München 2019 – scientific programme

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P: Fachverband Plasmaphysik

P 8: Laser Plasmas I - Codes and Modelling I

P 8.6: Talk

Tuesday, March 19, 2019, 12:15–12:30, HS 20

Laser-driven shock acceleration of ions in the collisional and ultra-relativistic regime — •Shikha Bhadoria, Naveen Kumar, and Christoph H. Keitel — Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Saupfercheckweg 1, Heidelberg

The effect of collisions and quantum electrodynamic effects like radiation reaction and pair production on shock formation and subsequent ion acceleration from laser-plasma interaction are explored by means of particle-in-cell simulations. In this setup, the incident laser pushes the laser-plasma interface inside the plasma target through the hole-boring effect and generates hot electrons. The propagation of these hot electrons inside the target excites a return plasma current, leading to filamentary structures caused by the Weibel/filamentation instability. The collisional weakening of the space-charge effects results in the formation of a shock with a higher density jump than in a collisionless plasma. This stronger shock leads to stable quasi-monoenergetic acceleration of ions [1]. In the ultra-relativistic regime, both radiation reaction and pair plasma formation tend to slow down the shock velocity which makes the quasi-monoenergetic ion acceleration lasting on longer timescales. [1] S. Bhadoria, N.Kumar, C.H. Keitel. Stable quasi-monoenergetic ion acceleration from the laser-driven shocks in collisional plasmas ArXiv:1707.03309[physics.plasm-ph]