Picosecond short-range disordering in isochorically heated aluminum at solid density.

Using ultrafast x-ray probing, we experimentally observed a progressive loss of ordering within solid-density aluminum as the temperature raises from 300 K to >10{4} K. The Al sample was isochorically heated by a short ( approximately ps), laser-accelerated proton beam and probed by a short broadband x-ray source around the Al K edge. The loss of short-range ordering is detected through the progressive smoothing of the time-resolved x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) structure. The results are compared with two different theoretical models of warm dense matter and allow us to put an upper bound on the onset of ion lattice disorder within the heated solid-density medium of approximately 10 ps.

Relativistic wave-induced splitting of the Langmuir mode in a magnetized plasma.

A relativistic effect that occurs in a magnetized plasma irradiated by a circularly polarized wave is identified and analyzed: the usual plasma frequency associated with longitudinal oscillations splits into two new frequencies. We set up a Hamiltonian description of the plasma dynamic in order to identify this effect that results from the coupling between the plasma oscillation and the transverse circular motion driven by both the magnetic and wave fields. Within the small oscillations approximation, we compute for right- and left-handed polarization the two characteristics frequencies of the electron oscillations as functions of the field and wave parameters. We also describe the electron trajectories in the wave, magnetic, and restoring plasma fields. This new class of oscillations is rotational and therefore radiate suggesting a method for the diagnostics of strong static magnetic field in laser-plasma experiments.

Relativistic kinetic theory of pitch angle scattering, slowing down, and energy deposition in a plasma.

The collisional dynamics of a relativistic electron population in a Lorentzian plasma are investigated and analyzed within the framework of kinetic theory. The relativistic Fokker-Planck equation describing both slowing down and pitch angle scattering is derived, analyzed, and solved. The analytical Green function is used to express the electron range, the range straggling, and the mean radial dispersion as a function of the plasma parameters. Compared to standard slowing down theories, the inclusion of the pitch angle scattering without any Gaussian approximation appears to be essential to calculate these quantities.