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Abstract:

A new mechanism for the absorption of energy during the interaction between an ultra-intense laser pulse and a sharp-edged overdense plasma, which we term the zero vector potential (ZVP) mechanism, is presented. The ZVP-mechanism is a nonponderomotive absorption mechanism that should dominate in the interaction of very strong short laser pulses (a0≫1) with overdense plasmas in the case of sharp density gradients. In the ZVP-mechanism the existence of moving zeroes in the vector potential of the relativistic skin layer is crucial to the generation of both fast electron bunches and coherent x-rays. We demonstrate that the laser energy is absorbed from the plasma on the attosecond timescale in the form of electron bunches with unprecedentedly short duration. The numerical simulations are able to validate all qualitative and quantitative aspects of the ZVP-mechanism. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.

Abstract:

The structure of laser-shock-compressed polycrystalline iron was probed using in situ x-ray diffraction over a pressure range spanning the α-ε phase transition. Measurements were also made of the c/a ratio in the ε phase, which, in contrast with previous in situ x-ray diffraction experiments performed on single crystals and large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are close to those found in high-pressure diamond anvil cell experiments. This is consistent with the observation that significant plastic flow occurs within the nanosecond time scale of the experiment. Furthermore, within the sensitivity of the measurement technique, the fcc phase that had been predicted by MD simulations was not observed. © 2011 American Physical society.

Abstract:

We have studied a solid-to-plasma transition by irradiating Al foils with the FLASH free electron laser at intensities up to 10(16)  W/cm(2). Intense XUV self-emission shows spectral features that are consistent with emission from regions of high density, which go beyond single inner-shell photoionization of solids. Characteristic features of intrashell transitions allowed us to identify Auger heating of the electrons in the conduction band occurring immediately after the absorption of the XUV laser energy as the dominant mechanism. A simple model of a multicharge state inverse Auger effect is proposed to explain the target emission when the conduction band at solid density becomes more atomiclike as energy is transferred from the electrons to the ions. This allows one to determine, independent of plasma simulations, the electron temperature and density just after the decay of crystalline order and to characterize the early time evolution.

Abstract:

We develop a new theoretical approach that demonstrates the abilities of elastic X-ray scattering to yield thermodynamic, structural, and mixing properties of dense matter with multiple ion species. The novel decomposition of the electron structure factor in multi-component systems provides the basis to study dense mixtures as found in giant gas planets or during inertial confinement fusion. We show that the scattering signal differs significantly between single species, microscopic mixtures, and phase-separated fluids. Thus, these different phases can be distinguished experimentally via elastic X-ray scattering. © 2011 Europhysics Letters Association.