Transition from Coherent to Stochastic electron heating in ultrashort relativistic laser interaction with structured targets

Year: 2017

Authors: Cristoforetti G., Londrillo P., Singh P.K., Baffigi F., D’Arrigo G., Amit Lad D., Milazzo R.G., Adak A., Shaikh M., Sarkar D., Chatterjee G., Jha J., Krishnamurthy M., Kumar G.R., Gizzi LA.

Autors Affiliation: CNR, Intense Laser Irradiat Lab INO, Via G Moruzzi 1, Pisa, Italy; Osservatorio Astron Bologna, INAF, Bologna, Italy; Tata Inst Fundamental Res, Homi Bhabha Rd, Bombay 400005, Maharashtra, India; CNR, Ist Microelettron & Microsistemi, Catania, Italy; INFN, Pisa Sect, Largo B Pontecorvo 3, Pisa, Italy.

Abstract: Relativistic laser interaction with micro- and nano-scale surface structures enhances energy transfer to solid targets and yields matter in extreme conditions. We report on the comparative study of laser-target interaction mechanisms with wire-structures of different size, revealing a transition from a coherent particle heating to a stochastic plasma heating regime which occurs when migrating from micro-scale to nano-scale wires. Experiments and kinetic simulations show that large gaps between the wires favour the generation of high-energy electrons via laser acceleration into the channels while gaps smaller than the amplitude of electron quivering in the laser field lead to less energetic electrons and multi-keV plasma generation, in agreement with previously published experiments. Plasma filling of nano-sized gaps due to picosecond pedestal typical of ultrashort pulses strongly affects the interaction with this class of targets reducing the laser penetration depth to approximately one hundred nanometers. The two heating regimes appear potentially suitable for laser-driven ion/electron acceleration schemes and warm dense matter investigation respectively.

Journal/Review: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS

Volume: 7      Pages from: 1479-1  to: 1479-8

More Information: We acknowledge the National Research Council of Italy for the support in the framework of the Short Term Mobility program 2014. GRK acknowledges partial support from a J.C. Bose Fellowship grant (JCB-037/2010) from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. This work was partially supported by the MIUR-PRIN 2012 (Contract No. PRIN2012AY5LEL) and by the INFN L3IA project (CN5).
KeyWords: nanopillars, intense laser, silicon; laser plasma; nanostrutture; relativistico
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-01677-5

Citations: 30
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