Explicit relations are developed to estimate the outflux of migrating isotopomers iQF6 to the outskirts of a supersonic supercooled free jet whose core is irradiated by a co-axial laser beam and intercepted by a skimmer that separates core gas from peripheral gases. The QF6 target gas is diluted in carrier gas G (G = He, N2, Ar, Xe, SF6, etc.) which determines the jet's supersonic characteristics and forms QF6:G dimers at low temperatures. Under isotope-selective laser excitation, excited iQF6* convert their vibrational energy V into kinetic energy T after forming transient iQF6*:G dimers that dissociate in sub-microseconds. Three migrating groups with different transport parameters are created in the jet: thermal monomers, faster-moving epithermal monomers, and slower-moving dimers. Jet-core-fleeing QF6 is enriched in iQF6 due to enhanced outwards migration of iQF6! epithermals and reduced escape of jQF6:G dimers in the jet. Isotope enrichments in the rim gases are highest for heavier carrier gases such as G = Xe or G = SF6.

The interaction of near infrared femtosecond laser pulses with a Cu based alloy (brass) in ambient air at atmospheric pressure and under different laser conditions was investigated. The effects of laser fluence and number of pulses on surface morphology and ablation rate were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy. Ablation rates were found to rapidly increase from 83 to 604 nm/pulse in the fluence range 1.14–12.21 J/cm2. At fluence >12.21 J/cm2, ablation rates increased slowly to a maximum (607 nm/pulse at 19.14 J/cm2), and then decreased at fluence higher than 20.47 J/cm2 to 564 nm/pulse at 24.89 J/cm2. Large amounts of ablated material in a form of agglomerated fine particles were observed around the ablation craters as the number of laser pulses and fluence increased. The study of surface morphology shows reduced thermal effects with femtosecond laser ablation in comparison to nanosecond laser ablation at low fluence.

The nonlinear Compton scattering by a linearly polarized laser pulse of finite duration is analyzed, with a focus on the spin effects of target electrons. We show that, although the Compton scattering accompanied by the electron no-spin flip is dominant, for some energy regions of Compton photons their emission is dominated by the process leading to the electron spin flip. This feature is observed for different pulse durations, and can be treated as a signature of quantum behavior. Similar conclusions are reached when analyzing the scattered electron energy spectra. This time, the sensitivity of spin effects to the carrier-envelope phase of the driving pulse is demonstrated. The possibility of electron acceleration by means of Compton scattering is also discussed.

A camera has been developed that directly measures the deuterium-tritium burn region of laser-driven inertial confinement fusion targets. Images are formed by 14-MeV thermonuclear neutrons emitted from the targets. Our demonstration instrument is based on a coded-aperture imaging technique known as penumbral imaging, and has produced images of high-yield (> 1012 neutrons) direct-drive targets with resolutions of 80 μm. The camera consists of four major components: the penumbral aperture, alignment hardware, detector system, and image analysis software.

A new concept of laser fusion driver is proposed, which uses a beam combination technique with stimulated Brillouin scattering phase conjugate mirror (SBS-PCM). It is constructed systematically with a cross-type amplifier as a basic unit. In the first part of this paper, we introduce the cross-type laser amplifier using SBS-PCM, with several advantages by experimental results. These advantages are the ideal properties for practical laser fusion driver, such as the perfect isolation of leak beam, the compensation of thermally induced birefringence through the amplifiers, the easy maintenance and alignment insensitiveness, and the freely-scale-up energy. Next, some successful results for the phase control of SBS-PCM are presented, which is one of the main problems in the current beam combination laser using SBS-PCM. Particularly, a new technique for controlling the phase of SBS-PCM, “self-density modulation,” is introduced, which is the simplest ever among those reported. With the advantages of the cross-type amplifier using SBS-PCM and the novel method for controlling the phase of SBS-PCM, the proposed beam combination laser system is presented as the most promising one, which can contribute to the realization of high energy laser that can operate with high repetition rate over 10 Hz, even in the case of huge output energy over MJ.

The X-ray emission from planar targets made of aluminum, copper, or gold irradiated by a frequency-doubled Nd laser (530-nm wavelength and 1012–1014-W/cm2 laser intensity) was measured at two pulse durations: 3 ns and 30 ps. We absolutely measured the X-ray emission with spectral, temporal, and spatial resolution in the wavelength range 3 Å < λ < 250 Å by using filtered bolometers, a transmission grating spectrometer, X-ray diodes, and an X-ray streak camera as diagnostics. In addition, the absorption of laser light was measured. For the short, 30-ps laser pulse the conversion of incident laser energy into X rays was considerably less than that with the long, 3-ns pulse. This is caused by less absorption of laser light and, in addition, by less conversion of absorbed laser energy into X rays in the case of the short pulse. The results are compared with numerical simulations performed with the MULTI hydrocode.

The possibilities of producing ultrahigh-current-density ps ion fluxes by the skin-layer interaction of a short (≤ 1ps) laser pulse with plasma were studied using two-fluid hydrodynamic simulations, and the time-of-flight measurements. Backward-emitted ion fluxes from a massive (Au) target as well as forward-emitted fluxes from various thin foil targets irradiated by a 1-ps laser pulse of intensity up to 2 × 1017 W/cm2 were recorded. Both the simulations and the measurements confirmed that using the short-pulse skin-layer interaction of a laser pulse with a thin pre-plasma layer in front of a solid target, a high-density collimated ion flux of extremely high ion current density (∼ 1010 A/cm2 close to the target), can be generated at laser intensity only ∼ 1017 W/cm2. The ion current densities produced by this way were found to be comparable to (or even higher than) those estimated from recent short-pulse experiments using a target normal sheath acceleration mechanism at relativistic laser intensities. The effect of the target structure on the current densities and energies of forward-emitted ions is demonstrated.

The optical emission spectra of the plasma generated by a 1.06-μm Nd:YAG laser irradiation of Al target in air was recorded and analyzed in a spatially resolved manner. Electron temperatures and densities in the plasma were obtained using the relative emission intensities and the Stark-broadened linewidths of Al(I) emission lines, respectively. The dependence of the electron density and temperature on the distance from the target surface and on the laser irradiance were manifested. We also discussed how the air takes part in the plasma evolution process and confirmed that the ignition of the air plasma was by the collisions between the energetic electrons and the nitrogen atoms through a cascade avalanche process.

Measurement of extremely new phenomena during the interaction of laser pulses with terawatt and higher power and picoseconds with plasmas arrived at drastically different anomalies in contrast to the usual observations if the laser pulses were very clean with a contrast ratio higher than 108. This was guaranteed by the suppression of prepulses during less than dozens of ps before the arrival of the main pulse resulting in the suppression of relativistic self-focusing. This anomaly was confirmed in many experimental details, and explained and numerically reproduced as a nonlinear force acceleration of skin layers generating quasi-neutral plasma blocks with ion current densities above 1011 A/cm2. This may support the requirement to produce a fast ignition deuterium tritium fusion at densities not much higher than the solid state by a single shot PW-ps laser pulse. With the aim to achieve separately studied ignition conditions, we are studying numerically how the necessary nonlinear force accelerated plasma blocks may reach the highest possible thickness by using optimized dielectric properties of the irradiated plasma. The use of double Rayleigh initial density profiles results in many wavelength thick low reflectivity directed plasma blocks of modest temperatures. Results of computations with the genuine two-fluid model are presented.

Short pulse laser plasma interaction experiments using diffraction limited beams provide an excellent platform to investigate the fundamental physics of stimulated Raman scattering. Detailed understanding of these laser plasma instabilities impacts the current inertial confinement fusion ignition designs and could potentially impact fast ignition when higher energy lasers are used with longer pulse durations (>1 kJ and >1 ps). Using short laser pulses, experiments can be modeled over the entire interaction time of the laser using particle-in-cell codes to validate our understanding quantitatively. Experiments have been conducted at the Trident laser facility and the Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses (LULI) to investigate stimulated Raman scattering near the threshold of the instability using 527 nm and 1059 nm laser light, respectively, with 1.5–3.0 ps pulses. In both experiments, the interaction beam was focused into pre-ionized helium gas-jet plasma. Measurements of the reflectivity as a function of intensity and kλD were completed at the Trident laser facility, where k is the electron plasma wave number and λD is the plasma Debye length. At LULI, a 300 fs Thomson scattering probe is used to directly measure the density fluctuations of the driven electron plasma and ion acoustic waves. Work is currently underway comparing the results of the experiments with simulations using the VPIC particle-in-cell code. Details of the experimental results are presented in this manuscript.

The plume images of the laser produced silver plasma in the absence and presence of 0.45 T transverse magnetic field has been investigated under vacuum ~10−4 torr and in air. An Nd:YAG laser (1.064 µm, 1.1 MW, 9 ns) with intensity ~1012 Wcm−2 was used to generate plasma. A CCD image capture system was used for plasma imaging to explore the plume. A magnetic probe was employed to measure the variation in internal magnetic field of plasma with as well as without 0.45 T external transverse magnetic field. The X-ray emission from plasma in both the cases (with and without B field) was also monitored using two PIN photodiodes filtered with 24 µm Cu and 24 µm Al. The plume images in both the cases were then correlated with the time resolved soft X-ray emission. It was found that the self generated magnetic field of the plasma increases in the presence of magnetic field. Plume images reveal that the confinement of the plume takes place in the presence of magnetic field both in the cases of air and vacuum. Jet and spikes like structures were also observed due to plasma instabilities. Lobe formation in the plume at latter stages of plasma evolution was more prominent in air than under vacuum. X-ray emission signals exhibited an enhancement in the emission under transverse magnetic field. An increased rate of recombination due to high density as a result of plasma confinement across the applied magnetic field was found to be the main reason behind emission enhancement.

This work describes the application of laser ion source (LIS) for fabrication of semiconductor nanostructures, as well as relevant equipment completed and tested in the IPPLM for the EU STREP “SEMINANO” project and the obtained experimental results. A repetitive pulse laser system of parameters: energy of ∼0.8 J in a 3.5 ns-pulse, wavelength of 1.06 μm, repetition rate of up to 10 Hz and intensity on the target of up to 1011 W/cm2, has been employed to produce Ge ions intended for ion implantation into SiO2 substrate. Simultaneously, laser-ablated material (atoms clusters debris) was deposited on the substrate surface. The parameters of the Ge ion streams (energy and angular distributions, charge states, and ion current densities) were measured with the use of several ion collectors and an electrostatic ion energy analyzer. The SiO2 films of thickness from 20–400 nm prepared on substrates of a single Si crystal were deposited and implanted with the use of laser-produced germanium of different properties. The modified SiO2 layers and sample surface properties were characterized with the use of different methods: X-ray photoelectron and Auger electron spectroscopy (XPS+AES), Raman scattering spectroscopy (RSS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The production of the Ge nano-crystallites has been demonstrated for annealed samples prepared in different experimental conditions.

In this work, a laser-produced plasma extreme ultraviolet source and a free electron laser were used to create Ne photo-ionized plasmas. In both cases, a radiation beam was focused onto a gas stream injected into a vacuum chamber synchronously with the radiation pulse. Extreme ultraviolet radiation from the plasma spanned a wide spectral range with pronounced maximum centered at λ = 11 ± 1 nm while the free electron laser pulses were emitted at a wavelength of 32 nm. The power density of the focused plasma radiation was approximately 2 × 107 W/cm2 and was seven orders of magnitude lower compared with the focused free electron laser beam. Radiation fluences in both experimental conditions were comparable. Despite quite different spectral characteristics and extremely different power densities, emission spectra of both photo-ionized plasmas consist of the same spectral lines within a wavelength range of 20 to 50 nm, however, with different relative intensities of the corresponding lines. The dominating spectral lines originated from singly charged ions (Ne II); however, Ne III lines were also detected. Additionally, computer simulations of the emission spectra, obtained for photo-ionized plasmas, driven by the plasma extreme ultraviolet source, were performed. The corresponding measured and calculated spectra are presented. An electron temperature and ionic composition were estimated. Differences between the experimental spectra, obtained for both irradiation conditions, were analyzed. The differences were attributed mainly to different energies of driving photons.

The quantitative analysis of the collisional line broadening and the ionization state distributions for determining optical properties of aluminum plasmas are the main goal of this paper. In a preliminary analysis, results from an average atom model are compared with those from detailed configurations, assuming LTE conditions. The sensitivity to these physical aspects in the extinction coefficient and in the Rosseland and Planck mean opacities are carefully studied.

A new approach to spectroscopy of laser induced proton beams using radiochromic film (RCF) is presented. This approach allows primary standards of absorbed dose-to-water as used in radiotherapy to be transferred to the calibration of GafChromic HD-810 and EBT in a 29 MeV proton beam from the Birmingham cyclotron. These films were then irradiated in a common stack configuration using the TARANIS Nd:Glass multi-terawatt laser at Queens University Belfast, which can accelerate protons to 10–12 MeV, and a depth-dose curve was measured from a collimated beam. Previous work characterizing the relative effectiveness (RE) of GafChromic film as a function of energy was implemented into Monte Carlo depth-dose curves using FLUKA. A Bragg peak (BP) “library” for proton energies 0–15 MeV was generated, both with and without the RE function. These depth-response curves were iteratively summed in a FORTRAN routine to solve for the measured RCF depth-dose using a simple direct search algorithm. By comparing resultant spectra with both BP libraries, it was found that the effect of including the RE function accounted for an increase in the total number of protons by about 50%. To account for the energy loss due to a 20 µm aluminum filter in front of the film stack, FLUKA was used to create a matrix containing the energy loss transformations for each individual energy bin. Multiplication by the pseudo-inverse of this matrix resulted in “up-shifting” protons to higher energies. Applying this correction to two laser shots gave further increases in the total number of protons, N of 31% and 56%. Failure to consider the relative response of RCF to lower proton energies and neglecting energy losses in a stack filter foil can potentially lead to significant underestimates of the total number of protons in RCF spectroscopy of the low energy protons produced by laser ablation of thin targets.

The field distribution and the restraint effect of multipactor and plasma discharge on the periodic triangular surface have been theoretically and experimentally analyzed. It has been found by computational and simulative analysis that the periodic profile can quickly restrain or weaken multipactor and plasma discharge in low pressure within several microwave periods. Considering the field enhancement, increasing the slope angle, advancing the electric field, and lowering the frequency can enhance the multipactor suppression. X-band giga-watt high power microwave experiment with 20 ns short pulse was conducted. It was demonstrated that the periodic profile can effectively improve the breakdown threshold and slower the speed of tail erosion.

Preliminary experimental results are shown on the production of plasmas by low frequency helicon waves. At constant rf frequency and power, the results show a maximum in density as the dc magnetic field is varied. The measurements confirm the theoretical expectation that the plasma is ionized by Landau damping of the radiofrequency waves.

Enhancement of Kα yield from a metal foil covered with metal rods of submicron sizes, with low aspect ratio, irradiated by a p-polarized femtosecond laser pulses of about 1017 W/cm2 intensity is demonstrated. Obtained relative increase in Kα X-ray line emission is explained with a model of vacuum heating of fast electrons.

The possibilities of electron acceleration by ponderomotive force of a circularly polarized laser pulse in magnetized quantum plasma have been explored. The basic mechanism involves acceleration of electron by the axial gradient in the ponderomotive potential of the laser. The quantum effects have been taken into account for a high-density plasma. The ponderomotive force of the laser is resonantly enhanced when Doppler up-shifted laser frequency equals the cyclotron frequency.

Fast ignition for fusion energy by using petawatt-picosecond (PW-ps) laser pulses was modified due to an anomaly based on extremely clean suppression of prepulses. The resulting plasma blocks with space charge neutral ion current densities above 1011 Amp/cm2 may be used to ignite deuterium-tritium at densities at or little above solid state density. The difficulty is to produce extremely high energy flux densities of the blocks. Results are reported how the threshold can be reduced by a factor up to fife if the inhibition factor for thermal conductivity due to electric double layers is included in the hydrodynamic analysis.