Relativistic Plasma Optics with Structured Light

激光的偏振矢量可以在时间和空间上进行调制，以产生所谓的结构光。结构光已经成为光学操纵、通信、成像和显微镜中的强大工具，因为它提供了对不可见现象的访问。该奖项支持的研究工作旨在推动和探索结构化激光束与等离子体相互作用的新现象，等离子体是由大部分带正电荷的离子和自由电子组成的物质状态。高功率椭圆偏振和涡旋激光束将被用来产生等离子体谐波与可调的椭圆和涡旋的偏振状态。结构光与等离子体的相互作用将为等离子体的光学和磁学性质提供新的见解。本项目利用在空间和时间以及通过其偏振状态定制的独特结构的激光束，研究理论上预测的相对论性激光与物质相互作用的新现象。所提出的测量的目标是产生椭圆偏振和涡旋谐波光束从等离子体镜，并首次展示了通过调整驱动激光束的能量，椭圆度和涡度来控制其偏振态和涡度的能力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The polarization vector of laser light can be modulated in time and space to produce what is referred to as structured light. Structured light has been a powerful tool in optical manipulation, communications, imaging, and microscopy, as it provides access to phenomena not otherwise visible. The research effort supported by this award aims to drive and probe new phenomena in interactions of structured laser beams with plasmas, states of matter consisting of a significant portion of positively-charged ions and free electrons. High-power elliptically polarized and vortex laser beams will be used to produce plasma harmonics with tunable ellipticity and vorticity of the polarization state. Interactions of structured light with plasmas will provide new insights into their optical and magnetic properties.This project investigates new theoretically predicted phenomena in relativistic laser-matter interactions using uniquely structured laser beams tailored in space and time as well as through their polarization state. The objectives of the proposed measurements are to produce elliptically polarized and vortex harmonic beams from plasma mirrors and, for the first time, demonstrate the ability to control their polarization state and vorticity by tuning the energy, ellipticity, and vorticity of the driving laser beam. Experimental results will be compared to the results of two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.