Femtosecond-Scale Time Resolved Measurements of Intense Laser-Plasma Interactions

在过去的15年里，对强激光等离子体相互作用的研究导致了高能电子、质子、重离子、中子和伽马射线的紧凑和强源的发展。这些新光源的应用包括医学成像、离子肿瘤学和惯性约束聚变。然而，要使这些应用成为现实，需要对强烈激光等离子体相互作用的潜在超快动力学有更深入的了解。到目前为止，在飞秒时间尺度上对这些动力学进行的时间分辨测量一直是研究人员的难题。在这个项目中，我们建议首次使用国内和国际高功率激光设备以及位于斯特拉斯克莱德的新开发的SCAPA设备来开发一个高能、短脉冲的超连续光源。这种超强的超连续光源将使首次飞秒尺度、多时间框架的激光等离子体相互作用光学探测成为可能。本博士研究生的目标是：(1)为超连续介质探针的设计、建模和实验发展做出贡献。(2)为研究激光-等离子体相互作用及其应用的基础物理学的更广泛的实验项目做出贡献。(3)首次利用高能超连续介质光学探针技术进行了时间分辨激光等离子体实验。

Research into intense laser-plasma interactions has over the past 15 years, resulted in the development of compact and intense sources of high energy electrons, protons, heavy ions, neutrons and gamma-rays. Applications for these new sources include medical imaging, ion oncology and inertial confinement fusion. Making these applications a reality however will require a deeper understanding of the underlying ultrafast dynamics of the intense laser-plasma interactions. To date, time-resolved measurements of these dynamics, on femtosecond time scales, have eluded researchers. With this project we propose to develop, for the first time, a high-energy, short-pulse source of supercontinuum light using both national and international high-power laser facilities as well as the newly developed SCAPA facility based at Strathclyde. This intense source of supercontinuum light will enable the first femtosecond scale, multi-timeframe optical probing of intense laser-plasma interactions. The aim of this PhD studentship is to: (1) Contribute to the design, modelling and experimental development of the supercontinuum probe. (2) Contribute to a broader experimental program investigating the underlying physics of laser-plasma interactions and their applications. (3) Contribute to the first temporally resolved laser-plasma experiments using the high energy supercontinuum optical probe technique.