Macroscopic evidence of soliton formation in multiterawatt laser-plasma interaction

Year: 2002

Authors: Borghesi M., Bulanov S., Campbell DH., Clarke RJ., Esirkepov TZ., Galimberti M., Gizzi LA., MacKinnon AJ., Naumova NM., Pegoraro F., Ruhl H., Schiavi A., Willi O.

Autors Affiliation: Queens Univ Belfast, Dept Pure & Appl Phys, Belfast, Antrim North Ireland;
Russian Acad Sci, Inst Gen Phys, Moscow, Russia;
Univ London Imperial Coll Sci Technol & Med, Blackett Lab, London, England;
Rutherford Appleton Lab, Cent Laser Facil, Chilton, England;
Moscow Inst Phys & Technol, Dolgoprudnyi, Russia;
CNR, Ist Fis Atom & Mol, I-56127 Pisa, Italy;
Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, Livermore, CA 94550 USA;
Max Born Inst Quantenopt, Berlin, Germany;
Univ Pisa, Dept Phys, I-56100 Pisa, Italy;
INFM, I-56100 Pisa, Italy;
Univ Dusseldorf, Inst Laser & Plasmaphys, D-4000 Dusseldorf, Germany

Abstract: A novel physical phenomenon has been observed following the interaction of an intense (10(19) W/cm(2)) laser pulse with an underdense plasma. Long-lived, macroscopic bubblelike structures have been detected through the deflection that the associated electric charge separation causes in a proton probe beam. These structures are interpreted as the remnants of a cloud of relativistic solitons generated in the plasma by the ultraintense laser pulse. This interpretation is supported by an analytical study of the soliton cloud evolution, by particle-in-cell simulations, and by a reconstruction of the proton-beam deflection.

Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Volume: 88 (13)      Pages from: 135002-1  to: 135002-4

KeyWords: rayleigh-taylor instability; solids; waves; beams;
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.135002

Citations: 217
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