Erlangen 2018 – scientific programme

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P: Fachverband Plasmaphysik

P 24: Laser Plasmas II

P 24.5: Talk

Thursday, March 8, 2018, 11:45–12:00, KI 1.174

Ultra-high energy density physics in aligned nanowire arrays — •Vural Kaymak¹, Alexander Pukhov¹, Vyacheslav N. Shlyaptsev², and Jorge J. Rocca^2,3 — ¹Institut für Theoretische Physik, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany — ²Department of Electrical Computer Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA — ³Department of Physics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80513, USA

The creation of ultra-high energy density (UHED, >1· 10⁸ J/cm³) plasmas in compact laboratory setups enables studies of matter under extreme conditions and can be used for the efficient generation of intense x-ray and neutron pulses. An accessible way to achieve the UHED regime is the irradiation of vertically aligned high-aspect-ratio nanowire arrays with relativistic femtosecond laser pulses. These targets have shown to facilitate near total absorption of laser light several micrometers deep into near-solid-density material. We investigate the depth of the volumetric heating and a mechanism causing the wires to pinch, thereby delaying the hydrodynamic expansion and achieving extremely high energy and particle densities.