Relativistic laser-plasma physics and advanced plasma optics

由于其紧凑的性质和独特的性质，强激光驱动的粒子和辐射源在科学和社会的许多领域具有变革的应用潜力。这种使能技术的发展核心是利用等离子体电子与激光相互作用时产生的非线性光学现象，获得相对论速度。这些物理过程将主导下一代激光设施中的光-物质相互作用，例如极端光基础设施(ELI)。该项目包括一系列实验和耦合模拟，以研究相对论激光-等离子体相互作用现象，以及它们在控制超强激光脉冲照射的超薄箔目标中的带电粒子和辐射产生方面的应用。它还将涉及等离子体光学的先进设计的开发和应用，包括紧密聚焦相对论强激光的椭球反射表面。该项目利用了我们团队最近的突破，包括超薄薄片的相对论透明度(《自然物理学》第12期，第505期(2016年))，以及它在操纵等离子体粒子运动(《自然通讯》，7,12891(2016年))和加速物理学(《自然通讯》，截至2018年)中的使用。它将探索相对论等离子体光子学发展的物理基础，以实现对超高强度激光脉冲的空间、时间和偏振可调控制。该项目包括在牛津郡的中央激光设施使用新的350TW SCAPA物理激光器和外部激光器进行实验研究。它还包括使用Archer和Archie-West高性能计算机模拟强激光与等离子体的相互作用。目的是：1.研究相对论等离子体孔径对超强激光特性的影响。研究在相对论透明目标中控制场演化和粒子加速的可能性。

Due to their compact nature and unique properties, intense laser-driven particle and radiation sources have transformative potential for application in many areas of science and society. Central to the development of this enabling technology is the exploitation of nonlinear optical phenomena that are produced when plasma electrons interacting with the laser gain relativistic velocities. These physical processes will dominate light-matter interactions at next-generation laser facilities, e.g. the extreme light infrastructure (ELI).The project involves a programme of experiments and coupled simulations to investigate relativistic laser-plasma interaction phenomena, and their use in controlling charged particle and radiation generation, in ultrathin foil targets irradiated by ultraintense laser pulses. It will also involve the development and application of advanced designs for plasma optics, including ellipsoidal reflective surfaces to tightly focus relativistically intense laser light. The project exploits recent breakthroughs by our team, including relativistic transparency in ultrathin foils (Nature Physics 12, 505 (2016)) and its use in manipulating plasma particle motion (Nature Communications, 7, 12891 (2016)) and acceleration physics (Nature Communications, At press (2018)). It will explore the physics underpinning the development of relativistic plasma photonics, to enable tuneable spatial, temporal and polarisation control of laser pulses at ultrahigh intensity. The project involves experimental investigations using the new 350TW SCAPA laser in Physics and external lasers at the Central Laser Facility in Oxfordshire. It also involves simulations of intense laser-plasma interactions using the ARCHER and ARCHIE-WeSt high performance computers.The objectives are:1. Investigate the influence of a relativistic plasma aperture on the properties of ultraintense laser light2. Investigate the potential to control field evolution and particle acceleration in relativistically transparent targets.