Collaborative Research: An Experimental Study of Relativistic, Stochastic Heating of Electrons During the Irradiation of Wavelength-Scale Plasmas by a Strong-Laser Field

合作研究：强激光场辐照波长尺度等离子体时电子相对论随机加热的实验研究。Ditmire（德克萨斯大学）和T.唐纳利（哈维穆德学院）科学功绩这笔赠款支持得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校（UT）的迪特迈尔教授和哈维穆德学院（HMC）的唐纳利教授之间的合作。我们将研究高强度激光脉冲存款能量进入物质的机制。 虽然强激光与原子、分子和固体相互作用的性质已经研究了很多年，但强激光脉冲与空间尺度与光波长（小于百万分之一米）相当的物体相互作用的确切程度在很大程度上尚未探索。 我们将把20太瓦激光器（功率几乎是整个美国电网功率的十倍）聚焦到波长级目标上，并研究由此产生的电子和离子能量，以研究激光能量被吸收的机制目标。 这项工作的科学价值在于填补了我们物理学知识的这一空白，并开发了改进的X射线和中子源。 更广泛的影响这项研究的更广泛的科学影响在于推进对高强度激光与一类以前没有很好探索的目标相互作用的理解。 这些研究的应用可能有助于改进X射线照相和时间分辨衍射，或紧凑的中子源成像其他系统的发展。 这项工作的更广泛的教育影响是在研究生和本科生将接受的培训中发现的。 我们的工作代表了一个独特的合作，其中一个本科组是直接和严格参与强场物理研究，这是一个领域的资源密集型的本科研究计划单独追求。 由该补助金资助的本科生将有机会在HMC进行研究，在夏季前往UT使用他们开发的设备参与研究，并前往会议向科学界展示他们的工作。 我们的合作将继续是一个有效的方式来激励本科生寻求科学的高级学位。

Collaborative Research: An Experimental Study of Relativistic, Stochastic Heating of Electrons During the Irradiation of Wavelength-scale Plasmas by a Strong-Laser FieldA renewal proposal from PIs T. Ditmire (University of Texas) and T. Donnelly (Harvey Mudd College)Scientific MeritThis grant supports a collaboration between Prof. Ditmire at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) and Prof. Donnelly at Harvey Mudd College (HMC), an undergraduate institution. We will investigate mechanisms by which high-intensity laser pulses deposit energy into matter. While the nature of intense laser interactions with atoms, molecules, and solids has been studied for many years, exactly how intense laser pulses interact with objects that are of a spatial scale comparable to the light's wavelength (less than a millionth of a meter) is largely unexplored. We will focus a 20 TW laser - a laser with nearly ten times the power of that on the entire US electrical grid - onto wavelength-scale targets and study the resulting electron and ions energies to study the mechanisms by which laser energy is absorbed by the target. The scientific merit of this work rests in filling this gap in our knowledge of physics, and in developing improved x-ray and neutron sources. Broader ImpactThe broader scientific impacts of this research rest in advancing the understanding of high-intensity laser interactions with a class of targets not previously well explored. Application of these studies may aid in the development of improved x-ray sources for radiography and time-resolved diffraction, or compact neutron sources for imaging other systems. The broader educational impact of this work is found in the training that both graduate and undergraduate students will receive. Our work represents a unique collaboration in which an undergraduate group is directly and critically involved in strong-field-physics research, a field which is prohibitively resource intensive for an undergraduate research program to pursue alone. The undergraduates funded by this grant will have the opportunity to do research at HMC, travel to UT in the summers to participate in research using equipment they have developed, and travel to conferences to present their work to the scientific community. Our collaboration will continue to be an effective way to motivate undergraduates to seek advanced degrees in science.