Modulation of harmonic emission spectra in relativistic laser interactions with overdense plasma

Modulation of harmonic emission spectra in relativistic laser interactions with overdense plasma

Plasma Modulation of Harmonic Emission Spectra from Laser-Dense Plasma Interactions

We report results from PIC simulations of the interaction of intense laser light with overdense plasma designed to examine the effects of plasma waves generated by pulses of fast electrons on high harmonic emission from the plasma. We show that the emission spectrum is modulated at the plasma frequency and identify combinations of parameters and circumstances favourable for modulation. In parti...

1 5 N ov 2 00 4 Modulation of Harmonic Emission Spectra from Intense Laser - Plasma Interactions

We report results from a series of PIC simulations carried out to investigate the interaction of intense laser light with overdense plasma and in particular, aspects of the harmonic emission spectrum generated in these interactions. Recent observations of emission in this range by Watts et al. [1] show emission above the 20th harmonic extending to the 37th with conversion efficiencies of order ...

Relativistic laser–plasma interactions

By focusing petawatt peak power laser light to intensities up to 1021 W cm−2, highly relativistic plasmas can now be studied. The force exerted by light pulses with this extreme intensity has been used to accelerate beams of electrons and protons to energies of a million volts in distances of only microns. This acceleration gradient is a thousand times greater than in radio-frequency-based acce...

Near-monochromatic high-harmonic radiation from relativistic laser–plasma interactions with blazed grating surfaces

Intense, femtosecond laser interactions with blazed grating targets are studied through experiment and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The high harmonic spectrum produced by the laser is angularly dispersed by the grating leading to near-monochromatic spectra emitted at different angles, each dominated by a single harmonic and its integer-multiples. The spectrum emitted in the direction of ...