Speaker
Thomas Kluge
Description
See the full Abstract at http://ocs.ciemat.es/EPS2018ABS/pdf/P2.2012.pdf
Investigating the influence of the picosecond leading pulse edge
on ultra-intense laser heating of solids with 3D PIC simulations
T. Kluge1, M. Garten1,2, A. Huebl1,2, R. Widera1, I. Goethel1, H. Burau1,2, T. Cowan1,
U. Schramm1, M. Bussmann1
1
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden – Rossendorf, Germany
2
Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
With recent improvements in plasma mirror techniques [1] achieving a reproducibly high
laser contrast, systematic studies of short-pulse, ultra-high intensity laser-ion acceleration
from thin foil targets (~10nm) become experimentally available [2][3]. A deeper
understanding of the influence of the pre-pulse phase and ps leading pulse edge of the drive
laser could lead to better control and reproducibility of ion cut-off energies which are
crucial for using laser-accelerated ions in medical applications. Plasma dynamics
accompanying the acceleration are highly non-linear and require precise knowledge about
the influence of both ab-initio electromagnetic and atomic evolution
of the plasma. Consequently, modelling these processes requires a
fully kinetic high resolution treatment and extensive 2D surveys,
while comparisons to experiments have shown that a quantitative
prediction of proton cut-off energies and evolution of plasma
instabilities demand a full 3D approach [4]. We present first results
from a 3D PIC simulation campaign, modelling ultra-intense (a0 = 20-
60) laser interaction with up to micrometer thick foils covering the
pico-second time span prior to the arrival of the main pulse.
Simulations have been performed at the Piz Daint supercomputer at
Figure 1:
CSCS, Switzerland, using the fully-relativistic 3D3V open-source Longitudinal current
density component of
particle-in-cell code PIConGPU [5] developed at HZDR. a 300nm Cu target
with organic
contamination layer.
[1] H. B. Shaw, S. Steinke, J. Van Tilborg and W. P. Leemans, Phys. Plasmas 23 (2016)
[2] P. L. Poole, L. Obst, G. Cochran et al., New J. Phys. 20 13019 (2018)
[3] A. Higginson, R. J. Gray, M. King, et al., Nat. Commun. 9 724 (2018)
[4] P. Hilz, T. M. Ostermayr, A. Huebl et al., Nat. Commun. 9 423 (2018)
[5] M. Bussmann, A. Huebl, R. Widera et al., Proceedings of SC13, Denver CO USA, Nov 17-21th (2013)
