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Impulsive electric fields driven by high-intensity laser matter interactions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2007

M. BORGHESI
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics and Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
S. KAR
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics and Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
L. ROMAGNANI
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics and Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR 7605 CNRS-CEA-Ecole Polytechnique-University Paris VI, Palaiseau, France
T. TONCIAN
Affiliation:
Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR 7605 CNRS-CEA-Ecole Polytechnique-University Paris VI, Palaiseau, France
P. ANTICI
Affiliation:
Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR 7605 CNRS-CEA-Ecole Polytechnique-University Paris VI, Palaiseau, France
P. AUDEBERT
Affiliation:
Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR 7605 CNRS-CEA-Ecole Polytechnique-University Paris VI, Palaiseau, France
E. BRAMBRINK
Affiliation:
Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR 7605 CNRS-CEA-Ecole Polytechnique-University Paris VI, Palaiseau, France
F. CECCHERINI
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia (INFM), Dipartimento di Fisica “E. Fermi,” Universita' di Pisa, Pisa, Italy
C.A. CECCHETTI
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics and Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
J. FUCHS
Affiliation:
Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR 7605 CNRS-CEA-Ecole Polytechnique-University Paris VI, Palaiseau, France
M. GALIMBERTI
Affiliation:
Istituto per i Processi Chimico Fisici-Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pisa, Italy
L.A. GIZZI
Affiliation:
Istituto per i Processi Chimico Fisici-Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pisa, Italy
T. GRISMAYER
Affiliation:
Centre de Physique Theorique, UMR 7644, CNRS-Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
T. LYSEIKINA
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia (INFM), Dipartimento di Fisica “E. Fermi,” Universita' di Pisa, Pisa, Italy
R. JUNG
Affiliation:
Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
A. MACCHI
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia (INFM), Dipartimento di Fisica “E. Fermi,” Universita' di Pisa, Pisa, Italy
P. MORA
Affiliation:
Centre de Physique Theorique, UMR 7644, CNRS-Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
J. OSTERHOLTZ
Affiliation:
Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
A. SCHIAVI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Energetica, Universita' di Roma 1 “La Sapienza,” Roma, Italy
O. WILLI
Affiliation:
Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

Abstract

The interaction of high-intensity laser pulses with matter releases instantaneously ultra-large currents of highly energetic electrons, leading to the generation of highly-transient, large-amplitude electric and magnetic fields. We report results of recent experiments in which such charge dynamics have been studied by using proton probing techniques able to provide maps of the electrostatic fields with high spatial and temporal resolution. The dynamics of ponderomotive channeling in underdense plasmas have been studied in this way, as also the processes of Debye sheath formation and MeV ion front expansion at the rear of laser-irradiated thin metallic foils. Laser-driven impulsive fields at the surface of solid targets can be applied for energy-selective ion beam focusing.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

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