Radiation pressure and radiation reaction effects in laser-solid interaction
Year: 2011
Authors: Macchi A., Tamburini M., Veghini S., Pegoraro F., Di Piazza A., Keitel C. H.
Autors Affiliation: Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, CNR, research unit “Adriano Gozzini”, Pisa, Italy;
Dipartimento di Fisica “Enrico Fermi”, Università di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy;
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
Abstract: The interaction of ultra-high intensity laser pulses with solid targets is studied theoretically and with Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations. The regime of Radiation Pressure Acceleration of ultrathin foil targets is investigated within an improved \”Light Sail\” or \”accelerating mirror\” model. The latter provides simple and useful scalings for the characteristics of accelerated ions. The underlying dynamics, unfolded by PIC simulations, is however more complex than the simple model may suggest. An important issue is the heating of electrons that, even if strongly reduced by the use of circulary polarized (CP) pulses, may lead to a significant broadening of the ion spectrum. Radiation Reaction (RR) effects in the ultra-relativistic regime of extreme intensities are included in the PIC simulations via the Landau-Lifshitz formula. Apparently, for linearly polarized pulses RR slightly reduces the ion energy but also contributes to cooling the electrons, while RR effects are rather weak for CP pulses.
Journal/Review: PROCEEDINGS OF SPIE
Volume: 7994 Pages from: 799421 to: 799421
KeyWords: Laser-Plasma Interactions; Radiation Pressure; Radiation Reaction; Ion Acceleration; DOI: 10.1117/12.881906Connecting to view paper tab on IsiWeb: Click here