Efficiency of radiation friction losses in laser-driven ‘hole boring’ of
dense targets

Year: 2019

Authors: Popruzhenko S.V., Liseykina T.V., Macchi A.

Autors Affiliation: Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, D-01187, Germany; National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, Moscow, 115409, Russian Federation; Institute of Physics, University of Rostock, Rostock, D-18051, Germany; Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics SB RAS, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation; CNR/INO (National Institute of Optics), Adriano Gozzini Unit, Pisa, I-56124, Italy; Enrico Fermi Department of Physics, University of Pisa, largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, Pisa, I-56127, Italy; Prokhorov General Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova Str. 38, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation

Abstract: In the interaction of laser pulses of extreme intensity (>10 (23) W cm (−2)) with high-density, thick plasma
targets, simulations show significant radiation friction losses, in contrast to thin targets for which
such losses are negligible. We present an analytical calculation, based on classical radiation friction
modeling, of the conversion efficiency of the laser energy into incoherent radiation in the case when a
circularly polarized pulse interacts with a thick plasma slab of overcritical initial density. By accounting
for three effects including the influence of radiation losses on the single electron trajectory, the global
‘hole boring’ motion of the laser-plasma interaction region under the action of radiation pressure, and
the inhomogeneity of the laser field in both longitudinal and transverse direction, we find a good
agreement with the results of three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Overall, the collective
effects greatly reduce radiation losses with respect to electrons driven by the same laser pulse in
vacuum, which also shift the reliability of classical calculations up to higher intensities.

Journal/Review: NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS

Volume: 21      Pages from: 033009-1  to: 033009-10

More Information: Authors acknowledge fruitful discussions with SV Bulanov, AM Fedotov, EG Gelfer, G Korn, VT Tikhonchuck, and S Weber. SVP acknowledges support of the MEPhI Academic Excellence Project (Contract No. 02.a03.21.0005) and of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research through Grant No. 16-02-00963a. The development of numerical algorithms was supported by Russian Science Foundation through Grant No. 16-11-10028. Numerical simulations were performed using the computing resources granted by the John von Neumann-Institut fur Computing (Research Center Julich) under the project HRO04.
KeyWords: radiation friction, laser-plasma interaction, extreme laser intensities
DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/ab0119

Citations: 9
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