Optically controlled dense current structures driven by relativistic plasma aperture-induced diffraction
Optically controlled dense current structures driven by relativistic plasma aperture-induced diffraction
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DOI：
10.1038/nphys3613
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发表时间：
2016-05-01
期刊：
影响因子：
19.6
通讯作者：
McKenna, Paul
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gonzalez-Izquierdo, Bruno;Gray, Ross J.;McKenna, Paul
带电粒子对强场的集体响应是等离子体加速器和辐射源、相对论光学和许多天体物理现象所固有的。本文研究了强激光在薄膜上产生相对论性等离子体孔径，从而导致衍射的基本光学过程。等离子体电子集体响应所得到的激光近场衍射图，产生具有空间结构的高能电子束，该结构可以通过激光脉冲参数的变化来控制。结果表明，静态电子束和感应磁场结构可以根据激光偏振的椭圆度以固定或可变的角频率旋转。该概念得到了数值验证和实验验证，是激光驱动致密等离子体源中带电粒子动力学光学控制的重要一步。
The collective response of charged particles to intense fields is intrinsic to plasma accelerators and radiation sources, relativistic optics and many astrophysical phenomena. Here we show that a relativistic plasma aperture is generated in thin foils by intense laser light, resulting in the fundamental optical process of diffraction. The plasma electrons collectively respond to the resulting laser near-field diffraction pattern, producing a beam of energetic electrons with a spatial structure that can be controlled by variation of the laser pulse parameters. It is shown that static electron-beam and induced-magnetic-field structures can be made to rotate at fixed or variable angular frequencies depending on the degree of ellipticity in the laser polarization. The concept is demonstrated numerically and verified experimentally, and is an important step towards optical control of charged particle dynamics in laser-driven dense plasma sources.