Diagnosis of warm dense conditions in foil targets heated by intense femtosecond laser pulses using Kα imaging spectroscopy.

Warm dense conditions in titanium foils irradiated with intense femtosecond laser pulses are diagnosed using an x-ray imaging spectroscopy technique. The line shapes of radially resolved titanium Kα spectra are measured with a toroidally bent GaAs crystal and an x-ray charge-coupled device. Measured spectra are compared with the K-shell emissions modeled using an atomic kinetics - spectroscopy simulation code. Kα line shapes are strongly affected by warm (5-40 eV) bulk electron temperatures and imply multiple temperature distributions in the targets. The spatial distribution of temperature is dependent on the target thickness, and a thin target shows an advantage to generate uniform warm dense conditions in a large area.

Two-beam coupling between filament-forming beams in air.

We experimentally demonstrate two-beam coupling between nearly identical filament-forming beams intersecting in air. A 7% amplification of one beam occurs at the energy expense of the other in a single interaction, controllable by adjusting their relative delay by tens of femtoseconds. The data are consistent with the impulsive Raman nonlinear response of the air molecules as the coupling mechanism. The filament conical emission is controllably enhanced or suppressed by the interaction, indicating that two-beam coupling may be an effective means for filament regeneration and control.

Characterization of two distinct, simultaneous hot electron beams in intense laser-solid interactions.

The transport of energetic electron beams generated from aluminum foils irradiated by ultraintense laser pulses has been studied by imaging coherent transition radiation from the rear side of the target. Two distinct beams of MeV electrons are emitted from the target rear side at the same time. This measurement indicates that two different mechanisms, namely resonance absorption and jxB heating, accelerate the electrons at the targets front side and drive them to different directions, with different temperatures. This interpretation is consistent with 3D-particle-in-cell simulations.

Equation-of-state measurement of dense plasmas heated with fast protons.

Using an ultrafast pulse of mega-electron-volt energy protons accelerated from a laser-irradiated foil, we have heated solid density aluminum plasmas to temperatures in excess of 15 eV. By measuring the temperature and the expansion rate of the heated Al plasma simultaneously and with picosecond time resolution we have found the predictions of the SESAME Livermore equation-of-state (LEOS) tables to be accurate to within 18%, in this dense plasma regime, where there have been few previous experimental measurements.