Surface Wave Electron Acceleration from Flat Foils at Parallel Laser Incidence

Year: 2025

Authors: McCay A., Mc Ilvenny A., Macchi A., Romagnani L., Martin P., Cavanagh O., Molloy D.P., Lancia L., Dzelzainis T., Ahmed H., Sarma J., Kar S., Margarone D., Borghesi M.

Autors Affiliation: Queens Univ Belfast, Ctr Light Matter Interact, Belfast BT7 1NN, North Ireland; Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC, ELI Beamlines Facil, Dolni Brezany 25241, Czech Republic; Natl Inst Opt, Adriano Gozzini Lab, Natl Res Council CNR INO, I-56124 Pisa, Italy; Univ Pisa, Dipartimento Fis Enr Fermi, Pisa, Italy; Univ Paris Saclay, Ecole Polytech, LULI CNRS, CEA, F-91128 Palaiseau, France; Rutherford Appleton Lab, Cent Laser Facil, Didcot OX11 0QX, Oxfordshire, England; HB11 Energy Holdings Pty, Freshwater 2096, Australia; Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab, 1 Cyclotron Rd, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA.

Abstract: The acceleration of electrons by surface plasma waves (SPWs) generated during the interaction of ultrashort, linearly polarized, and contrast-enhanced laser pulses at a peak intensity of similar to 6 x 10(20) W cm(-2) with flat, noncorrugated foils at parallel incidence (with respect to the target surface) is investigated. We experimentally demonstrate the generation of a collimated electron beam (< 0.6 mrad) with a nonMaxwellian spectrum, characterized by peaks at superponderomotive energies (30-36 MeV) and total charge similar to 120 pC. Through particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, we identify the J x B force at the front edge as the primary mechanism for injecting electrons into the SPW, where they are further accelerated. Furthermore, our simulation findings reveal that lateral surface contaminants influence SPW dynamics and give rise to a long-ranging plasmonic mode. Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Volume: 135 (14)      Pages from: 145001-1  to: 145001-6

More Information: The authors would like to thank the GEMINI staff and the engineering and target fabrication groups at the CLF for their support. The authors acknowl-edge funding from EPSRC [Grant No. EP/P010059/1] , the IMPULSE project by the European Union Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under Grant Agreement No. 871161, and the UHDPULSE EMPIR program cofinanced by the Participating States and from the European Union ’ s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. Through using the EPOCH code, this work has also in part been supported by EPSRC Grant s No. EP/G054950/1, No. EP/G056803/1, No. EP/G055165/1, and No. EP/M022463/1. The authors also acknowledge the computing resources provided by the Kelvin High-Performance Computing cluster at Queen ’ s University Belfast.
KeyWords: Plasma Mirror
DOI: 10.1103/y29y-f63h