Relativistic acceleration of micro-foils with prospects for fast ignition

AbstractIn this work, it is suggested that the ponderomotive force, induced by a multi-petawatt laser on the interface of a vacuum with solid target, can accelerate a micro-foil to relativistic velocities. The extremely high velocities of the micro-foil can be achieved due to the very short time duration (about a picosecond) of the laser pulse. This accelerated micro-foil is used to ignite a pre-compressed cylindrical shell containing the deuterium tritium fuel. The fast ignition is induced by a heat wave produced during the collision of the accelerated foil with the pre-compressed target. This approach has the advantage of separating geometrically the nanoseconds lasers that compress the target with the picosecond laser that accelerates the foil.

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Heat wave fast ignition in inertial confinement energy

High Power Laser Science and Engineering ◽

10.1017/hpl.2013.5 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 44-49 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Shalom Eliezer ◽

Shirly Vinikman Pinhasi

Keyword(s):

Heat Wave ◽

Present Model ◽

Picosecond Laser ◽

Fast Ignition ◽

High Impact ◽

Inertial Confinement ◽

Time Duration ◽

Nanosecond Lasers ◽

Short Time ◽

Very High

AbstractAn accelerated micro-foil is used to ignite a pre-compressed cylindrical shell containing deuterium–tritium fuel. The well-known shock wave ignition criterion and a novel criterion based on heat wave ignition are developed in this work. It is shown that for heat ignition very high impact velocities are required. It is suggested that a multi-petawatt laser can accelerate a micro-foil to relativistic velocities in a very short time duration (˜picosecond) of the laser pulse. The cylindrical geometry suggested here for the fast ignition approach has the advantage of geometrically separating the nanosecond lasers that compress the target from the picosecond laser that accelerates the foil. The present model suggests that nuclear fusion by micro-foil impact ignition could be attained with currently existing technology.

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Experimental Confirmation of Ponderomotive-Force Electrons Produced by an Ultrarelativistic Laser Pulse on a Solid Target

Physical Review Letters ◽

10.1103/physrevlett.77.75 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 77 (1) ◽

pp. 75-78 ◽

Cited By ~ 258

Author(s):

G. Malka ◽

J. L. Miquel

Keyword(s):

Laser Pulse ◽

Ponderomotive Force ◽

Experimental Confirmation ◽

Solid Target

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Generation of a fast-ion beam upon the interaction of a multiterawatt picosecond laser pulse with a solid target

Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics ◽

10.1134/1.1458470 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 94 (2) ◽

pp. 222-227 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

A. A. Andreev ◽

V. M. Komarov ◽

A. V. Charukhchev ◽

I. M. Litvinenko ◽

K. Yu. Platonov

Keyword(s):

Laser Pulse ◽

Ion Beam ◽

Picosecond Laser ◽

Solid Target ◽

Picosecond Laser Pulse ◽

Fast Ion

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X-ray-line plasma satellites of ions in solid target plasmas produced by picosecond laser pulse

JETP Letters ◽

10.1134/1.1648290 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 78 (11) ◽

pp. 703-706 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

V. S. Belyaev ◽

V. I. Vinogradov ◽

A. S. Kurilov ◽

A. P. Matafonov ◽

V. S. Lisitsa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Laser Pulse ◽

Picosecond Laser ◽

Solid Target ◽

Picosecond Laser Pulse ◽

X Ray

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Jetlike visible emission from preplasma pumped by a longitudinal picosecond laser pulse

Journal de Physique IV (Proceedings) ◽

10.1051/jp4:20012111 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 11 (PR2) ◽

pp. Pr2-563-Pr2-566

Author(s):

T. Ozaki ◽

K. Yamamoto ◽

H. Kuroda

Keyword(s):

Laser Pulse ◽

Picosecond Laser ◽

Visible Emission ◽

Picosecond Laser Pulse

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A quasi-monoenergetic short time duration compact proton source for probing high energy density states of matter

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-86234-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

J. I. Apiñaniz ◽

S. Malko ◽

R. Fedosejevs ◽

W. Cayzac ◽

X. Vaisseau ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Energy Density ◽

Proton Beam ◽

Dense Matter ◽

High Energy ◽

High Repetition Rate ◽

High Energy Density ◽

Time Duration ◽

Ultrashort Pulse Laser ◽

Proton Source ◽

Short Time

AbstractWe report on the development of a highly directional, narrow energy band, short time duration proton beam operating at high repetition rate. The protons are generated with an ultrashort-pulse laser interacting with a solid target and converted to a pencil-like narrow-band beam using a compact magnet-based energy selector. We experimentally demonstrate the production of a proton beam with an energy of 500 keV and energy spread well below 10$$\% $$ % , and a pulse duration of 260 ps. The energy loss of this beam is measured in a 2 $$\upmu $$ μ m thick solid Mylar target and found to be in good agreement with the theoretical predictions. The short time duration of the proton pulse makes it particularly well suited for applications involving the probing of highly transient plasma states produced in laser-matter interaction experiments. This proton source is particularly relevant for measurements of the proton stopping power in high energy density plasmas and warm dense matter.

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