Surface oscillations in overdense plasmas irradiated by ultrashort laser pulses
Year: 2001
Authors: Macchi A., Cornolti F., Pegoraro F., Liseikina T.V., Ruhl H., Vshivkov V.
Autors Affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica and INFM (Sezione A), Universitá di Pisa, Pisa, Italy;
Max-Born Institut, Berlin, Germany;
Institute of Computational Technologies of SD-RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia
Abstract: The generation of electron surface oscillations in overdense plasmas irradiated at normal incidence by an intense laser pulse is investigated. Two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell simulations show a transition from a planar, electrostatic oscillation at 2 omega, with omega the laser frequency, to a 2D electromagnetic oscillation at frequency w and wave vector k > omega /c. A new electron parametric instability, involving the decay of a 1D electrostatic oscillation into two surface waves, is introduced to explain the basic features of the 2D oscillations. This effect leads to the rippling of the plasma surface within a few laser cycles, and is likely to have a strong impact on laser interaction with solid targets.
Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
Volume: 87 (20) Pages from: 205004 to: 205004
KeyWords: laser-plasma interactions; surface waves; ; particle-in-cell simulations; DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.205004ImpactFactor: 6.668Citations: 71data from “WEB OF SCIENCE” (of Thomson Reuters) are update at: 2024-12-08References taken from IsiWeb of Knowledge: (subscribers only)Connecting to view paper tab on IsiWeb: Click hereConnecting to view citations from IsiWeb: Click here