Efficiency of radiation friction losses in laser-driven ‘hole boring’ of
dense targets

Year: 2019

Authors: Popruzhenko S.V., Liseykina T.V., Macchi A.

Autors Affiliation: Max Planck Inst Phys Komplexer Syst, D-01187 Dresden, Germany; Natl Res Nucl Univ MEPhI, Moscow 115409, Russia; Univ Rostock, Inst Phys, D-18051 Rostock, Germany; CNR, INO, Natl Inst Opt, Adriano Gozzini Unit, I-56124 Pisa, Italy; Univ Pisa, Enrico Fermi Dept Phys, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy; Russian Acad Sci, Prokhorov Gen Phys Inst, Vavilova Str 38, Moscow 119991, Russia.

Abstract: In the interaction of laser pulses of extreme intensity (>10 (23) W cm (−2)) with high-density, thick plasma
targets, simulations show significant radiation friction losses, in contrast to thin targets for which
such losses are negligible. We present an analytical calculation, based on classical radiation friction
modeling, of the conversion efficiency of the laser energy into incoherent radiation in the case when a
circularly polarized pulse interacts with a thick plasma slab of overcritical initial density. By accounting
for three effects including the influence of radiation losses on the single electron trajectory, the global
‘hole boring’ motion of the laser-plasma interaction region under the action of radiation pressure, and
the inhomogeneity of the laser field in both longitudinal and transverse direction, we find a good
agreement with the results of three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Overall, the collective
effects greatly reduce radiation losses with respect to electrons driven by the same laser pulse in
vacuum, which also shift the reliability of classical calculations up to higher intensities.

Journal/Review: NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS

Volume: 21      Pages from: 033009-1  to: 033009-10

More Information: Authors acknowledge fruitful discussions with SV Bulanov, AM Fedotov, EG Gelfer, G Korn, VT Tikhonchuck, and S Weber. SVP acknowledges support of the MEPhI Academic Excellence Project (Contract No. 02.a03.21.0005) and of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research through Grant No. 16-02-00963a. The development of numerical algorithms was supported by Russian Science Foundation through Grant No. 16-11-10028. Numerical simulations were performed using the computing resources granted by the John von Neumann-Institut fur Computing (Research Center Julich) under the project HRO04.
KeyWords: radiation friction, laser-plasma interaction, extreme laser intensities
DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/ab0119

Citations: 10
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