Absolute spectral measurements of 50-500 keV electrons emitted from a Nd-laser-produced plasma are presented. For normally incident irradiation (10 to the 15th power to 10th to the 16th power W/sq.cm.) onto polystyrene slab targets a total emission of about 10 to the 10th power electrons is inferred with a total emitted energy of about 0.2 mJ. The electron emission is observed to be almost the same both in and out of the plane of polarization. Properties of the emitted spectrum, such as spectral hardness and intensity are observed to be dependent on pulse shape and target material. (Author).
Recent scientific and technical advances have made it possible to create matter in the laboratory under conditions relevant to astrophysical systems such as supernovae and black holes. These advances will also benefit inertial confinement fusion research and the nation's nuclear weapon's program. The report describes the major research facilities on which such high energy density conditions can be achieved and lists a number of key scientific questions about high energy density physics that can be addressed by this research. Several recommendations are presented that would facilitate the development of a comprehensive strategy for realizing these research opportunities.
Most of this book was written before October 1973. Thus the statements concerning the energy crisis are now dated, but remain valid nevertheless. However, the term "energy crisis" is no longer the unusual new concept it was when the material was written; it is, rather, a commonplace expression for a condition with which we are all only too familiar. The purpose of this book is to point out that the science and technology of laser-induced nuclear fusion are an extraordinary subject, which in some way not yet completely clear can solve the problem of gaining a pollution-free and really inexhaustible supply of inexpensive energy from the heavy hydrogen (deuterium) atoms found in all terrestrial waters. The concept is very obvious and very simple: To heat solid deuterium or mixtures of deuterium and tritium (superheavy hydrogen) by laser pulses so rapidly that despite the resulting expansion and cooling there still take place so many nuclear fusion reactions tnat the energy produced is greater than the laser energy that had to be applied. Compression of the plasma by the laser radiation itself is a more sophisticated refinement of the process, but one which at the present stage of laser cechnology is needed for the rapid realization of a laser-fusion reactor for power generation. This concept of compression can also be applied to the development of completely safe reactors with controlled microexplosions of laser-compressed fissionable materials such as uranium and even boron, which fission completely safely into nonradioactive helium atoms.
It has been found that it is necessary to impose a flux limit on the thermal electron transport in diffusion calculations of laser-produced plasmas to explain the observed partition of energy into fast and slow ions and x-rays. The effect of such a limit is to retain the deposited energy in the corona of the target. This containment increases the energy loss to fast ions, reduces the x-ray emission, and reduces the hydrodynamic efficiency. Although calculations for plasmas produced by lasers having wavelengths of 1 .mu.m or shorter agree with experiment when a flux limit which is 1/30 times the classical flux limit is applied to the electron thermal flux, I will show that such a flux limit cannot explain the results obtained for 10 .mu.m lasers. In this case it will be shown necessary to invoke a flux limit on the hot or suprathermal electrons.
This volume presents a selection of articles based on inspiring lectures held at the “Capri” Advanced Summer School, an original event conceived and promoted by Leonida Antonio Gizzi and Ralph Assmann that focuses on novel schemes for plasma-based particle acceleration and radiation sources, and which brings together researchers from the conventional accelerator community and from the high-intensity laser-matter interaction research fields. Training in these fields is highly relevant for ultra-intense lasers and applications, which have enjoyed dramatic growth following the development of major European infrastructures like the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) and the EuPRAXIA project. The articles preserve the tutorial character of the lectures and reflect the latest advances in their respective fields. The volume is mainly intended for PhD students and young researchers getting started in this area, but also for scientists from other fields who are interested in the latest developments. The content will also appeal to radiobiologists and medical physicists, as it includes contributions on potential applications of laser-based particle accelerators.
This book covers recent developments in laser plasma physics such as absorption, instability, energy transport and radiation from the standpoint of theory and simulation for plasma corona, showing how the elements for the high density compression depend on the interaction physics and heat transport.
This book covers recent developments in laser plasma physics such as absorption, instability, energy transport and radiation from the standpoint of theory and simulation for plasma corona, showing how the elements for the high density compression depend on the interaction physics and heat transport.
An electron spectrometer has been modified to measure 1.06 .mu. laser produced electrons in the 0.2 to 1.0 MeV range and has been used extensively at the LLL Argus laser facility. We observe a strong correlation between laser pulse width and the amplitude of electron spectral emission from imploded D-T filled microspheres.
At the time that we decided to begin work on this book, several other volumes on the free-electron laser had either been published or were in press. The earliest work of which we were aware was published in 1985 by Dr T. C. Marshall of Columbia University [1]. This book dealt with the full range of research on free-electron lasers, including an overview of the extant experiments. However, the field has matured a great deal since that time and, in our judgement, the time was ripe for a more extensive work which includes the most recent advances in the field. The fundamental work in this field has largely been approached from two distinct and, unfortunately, separate viewpoints. On the one hand, free-electron lasers at sub-millimetre and longer wavelengths driven by low-energy and high-current electron beams have been pursued by the plasma physics and microwave tube communities. This work has confined itself largely to the high-gain regimes in which collective effects may play an important role. On the other hand, short-wavelength free-electron lasers in the infrared and optical regimes have been pursued by the accelerator and laser physics community. Due to the high-energy and low-current electron beams appropriate to this spectral range, these experiments have operated largely in the low-gain single-particle regimes. The most recent books published on the free-electron laser by Dr C. A.
