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The dynamics of electron injection in the direct laser acceleration (DLA) regime is investigated using three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations and theoretical analyses. It is shown that, as an ultraintense laser pulse propagates into a near-critical density or relativistically transparent plasma, the longitudinal charge-separation electric field excites ion density spikes, which modulate the local electric field. The corresponding electric field acts as a series of potential wells to guide the electrons on the edge of the plasma channel into its center where the DLA can take place. On the other hand, an azimuthal magnetic field is self-generated, and it can deflect the injected electrons from the intense laser-field region. Understanding these physical processes paves the way for further optimizing the properties of direct-laser accelerated electron beams and the associated x- and $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray sources.

Radially polarized intense terahertz (THz) radiation behind a thin foil irradiated by ultrahigh-contrast ultrashort relativistic laser pulse is recorded by a single-shot THz time-domain spectroscopy system. As the thickness of the target is reduced from 30 to 2 \textmu{}m, the duration of the THz emission increases from 5 to over 20 ps and the radiation energy increases dramatically, reaching $\ensuremath{\sim}10.5\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mJ}$ per pulse, corresponding to a laser-to-THz radiation energy conversion efficiency of $1.7%$. The efficient THz emission can be attributed to reflection (deceleration and acceleration) of the laser-driven hot electrons by the target-rear sheath electric field. The experimental results are consistent with that of a simple model as well as particle-in-cell simulation.

The effect of a transient magnetic field on right-hand circularly polarized (RHCP) laser light propagation in overcritical-density plasma is investigated. When the electron gyrofrequency is larger than the wave frequency, RHCP light can propagate along the external magnetic field in an overcritical density plasma without resonance or cutoff. However, when the magnetic field falls to below the cyclotron resonance point, the propagating laser pulse will be truncated and the local plasma electrons resonantly heated. Particle-in-cell simulation shows that when applied to a thin slab, the process can produce intense two-cycle light pulses as well as long-lasting self-magnetic fields.

The collision of wake bubbles behind two counterpropagating laser pulses in rarefied plasma is investigated using particle-in-cell simulation. Special attention is paid to the highly nonlinear dynamics of the electrons in the interaction region. It is found that, as the two bubbles approach each other and collide, the electrons in the interaction region first oscillate in a periodic fashion, forming a quasistationary dense electron density ripple with fairly regular spatial structure. At longer times, the electron motion becomes chaotic, and the density grating is gradually smeared. The electrons escape in the transverse direction, and eventually the two bubbles merge to form a single one. The transition of the electron motion from regular to chaotic is confirmed by analytical modeling using test electrons moving in counterpropagating planar electromagnetic waves. The findings shed light on the dynamics of wake-bubble collisions and the complex behavior induced by multiple laser pulses in plasmas.

Ponderomotive-force driven acceleration of an electron at the focus of a high-intensity short-pulse laser is considered using a model that accounts for its averaged drift motion but neglects its fast-varying quiver motion. It is shown that at relativistic laser intensities the ponderomotive acceleration mechanism can be significant even for an electron initially at rest. The latter can easily be driven out of the interaction region by the radial component of the ponderomotive force. For intensities above ${10}^{19}$ W $\ensuremath{\mu}{\mathrm{m}}^{2}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2},$ energy gains in the range of MeV can be realized.

Localized nonlinear dust kinetic Alfv\'en waves are investigated. It is found that finite density dips and humps can coexist. The density humps are cusped and narrower than the dips.

The modulational interaction of finite-amplitude high-frequency electrostatic waves propagating at an arbitrary angle to an external magnetic field with slow plasma motion is considered. A set of nonlinear evolution equations describing the interaction is obtained. New types of solitary waves propagating at near sonic speeds are found.

A model for the penetration of ultrahigh-intensity ultrashort-pulse lasers through a highly overdense foil target is proposed. The model involves only electron motion. It is shown that the ponderomotive force of the light waves can push the electrons towards the back surface of the foil, such that the effective thickness of the latter is reduced to the order of the skin depth, thus allowing wave penetration. The results agree well with that from a particle-in-cell simulation.

A simple surface current model is proposed for studying harmonic generation by a short-pulse high-intensity circularly polarized laser irradiating a solid target normally. Exact relativistic electron dynamics is taken into account. It is found that high harmonics peaked at directions normal to that of incidence are efficiently generated.

The motion and distribution of charged dust grains under the action of electrostatic and gravitational forces near the boundary of a dusty plasma are investigated. It is shown that when gravity is negligible, a spatial localization of the dust can occur. For heavier grains, gravity enhances this localization, and causes a stratification of the dust density. For even heavier grains, the stratification disappears since the grains are pulled to the wall by gravity.

Turbulence governed by a generalized nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation (GNSE) including viscous heating and nonlinear damping is numerically investigated. It is found that a large localized pulse can suffer modulational instability and then collapse into the shortest-wavelength modes, as for the classical nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. However, the total energy of the nonconservative GNSE can also become constant during the collapse via local balance of energy gain and loss in the phase space. After the collapse, instead of inverse cascading into a state of strong turbulence with broad spectrum, a single-step cascade, or condensation, into modes of one predominant wavelength can occur. In fact, after attaining total energy balance the turbulent system as a whole evolves like a closed adiabatic system.

Exact solutions are obtained for large amplitude waves propagating in cold magnetized cylindrical plasmas bounded by rigid dielectrics. Nonlinearly interacting bulk and surface waves are investigated.

It is shown that the interaction of Langmuir waves and finite-amplitude collision-dominated ion-acoustic waves in a collisional plasma is governed by the coupling of a damped nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation and a driven Korteweg--de Vries--Burger equation. The system differs considerably from the Zakharov and related systems for a collisionless plasma.

A two-dimensional generalized cubic nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with complex coefficients for the group dispersion and nonlinear terms is used to investigate the evolution of a finite-amplitude localized initial perturbation. It is found that modulation of the latter can lead to side-band formation, wave condensation, collapse, turbulence, and inverse cascade, although not all together nor in that order., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

It is shown that finite-amplitude ion-acoustic waves in a collision-dominated plasma are described by a Korteweg--de Vries--Burger equation, which has the same form, but with very different scaling and parameter dependence from that describing ion-acoustic waves in a weakly collisional plasma.

The electromagnetic lower-hybrid drift instability (LHDI) in the intermediate-wavelength regime k_(y)sqrt[rho_(i)rho_(e)] approximately 1 , where k_(y) and rho_(e,i) are the wave vector and the electron and ion gyroradii, respectively, in a thin plasma sheet containing electrons and H+ and O+ ions is examined using kinetic theory. It is shown that the growth rate of the LHDI first decreases and then increases with increase in the O+ content and temperature, with a minimum at a moderate level of the latter. The results can be relevant to understanding magnetic reconnection in the presence of LHDI.

DNA aptamers are molecular biosensors consisting of single functionalized DNA molecules, which can bind to specific targets or complementary DNA sequences. The binding kinetics of DNA aptamers is studied by fluorescence quenching at 23 degrees C . A kinetic model for the binding reaction of DNA aptamer, antisense DNA, and ATP target is developed to describe experimental observations. The approach leads to a simple procedure to deduce relevant kinetic reactions and their rate constants. A comparison between theory and experiments indicates that the previously established bimolecular DNA-ATP binding does not provide a complete description of the experimental data. Side reactions such as trimolecular complexation are proposed. Rate constants of the model are determined by comparing the model predictions and experiments. Good agreements between the model and experiments have been obtained. Possible blocking reactions by the misfolded DNA aptamer are also discussed.

A Hohlraum-like configuration is proposed for realizing a simple compact source for neutrons. A laser pulse enters a tiny thin-shelled hollow-sphere target through a small opening and is self-consistently trapped in the cavity. The electrons in the inner shell-wall region are expelled by the light pressure. The resulting space-charge field compresses the local ions into a thin layer that becomes strongly heated. An inward expansion of ions into the shell cavity then occurs, resulting in the formation at the cavity center of a hot spot of ions at high density and temperature, similar to that in inertial electrostatic confinement.

Using conventional methods, a laser pulse can be focused down to around 6-8 microm, but further reduction of the spot size has proven to be difficult. Here it is shown by particle-in-cell simulation that with a hollow cone an intense laser pulse can be reduced to a tiny, highly localized, spot of around 1 microm radius, accompanied by much enhanced light intensity. The pulse shaping and focusing effect is due to a nonlinear laser-plasma interaction on the inner surface of the cone. When a thin foil is attached to the tip of the cone, the cone-focused light pulse compresses and accelerates the ions in its path and can punch through the thin target, creating highly localized energetic ion bunches of high density.

Proton trapping and acceleration by an electron bubble-channel structure in laser interaction with high-density plasma is investigated by using three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is shown that protons can be trapped, bunched, and efficiently accelerated for appropriate laser and plasma parameters, and the proton acceleration is enhanced if the plasma consists mainly of heavier ions such as tritium. The observed results are analyzed and discussed in terms of a one-dimensional analytical three-component-plasma wake model.

Self-organized separation of charged-dust species in two-dimensional dusty plasmas is studied by means of molecular-dynamics simulation. The multispecies dust grains, interacting through a screened Coulomb potential with a long-range attractive component, are confined by an external quadratic potential and subjected to a radially outward ion drag force. It is found that, in general, the species are spatially separated by bandlike dust-free (or void) regions, and grains of the same species tend to populate a common shell. At large ion drag and/or large plasma screening, a central disklike void as well as concentric bandlike voids separating the different species appear. Because of the outward drag and the attractive component of the dust-dust interaction forces, highly asymmetrical states consisting of species-separated dust clumps can also exist despite the fact that all the forces are either radial or central.

A solution in the form of X-wave patterns of the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation with a harmonic background inhomogeneity is obtained. The pattern can be attributed to the effects of the harmonic potential and the boundary configuration and size. By varying the harmonic of the background potential, the competition among three types of wave patterns: spiral, X, and target, is investigated by following the evolution of the Fourier modes.

It is pointed out that in a bounded dusty plasma in local thermodynamic equilibrium, the sheath electric field can very effectively shield highly charged $(g~{10}^{4}e$ for typical low-temperature plasmas) dust grains from the wall region.

The interaction of a petawatt laser with a small solid-density plasma bunch is studied by particle-in-cell simulation. It is shown that when irradiated by a laser of intensity >10(21) W/cm(2), a dense plasma bunch of micrometer size can be efficiently accelerated. The kinetic energy of the ions in the high-density region of the plasma bunch can exceed ten MeV at a density in the 10(23)-cm(-3) level. Having a flux density orders of magnitude higher than that of the traditional charged-particle pulses, the laser-accelerated plasma bunch can have a wide range of applications. In particular, such a dense energetic plasma bunch impinging on the compressed fuel in inertial fusion can significantly enhance the nuclear-reaction cross section and is thus a promising alternative for fast ignition.

The electric as well as the positive- and negative-ion drag forces on an isolated dust grain in an electronegative plasma are studied for large negative-ion densities, when the negative ions are not Boltzmann distributed. The investigation is carried out for submicrometer dust particles, so that the theory of Coulomb scattering is applicable for describing ion-dust interaction. Among the forces acting on the dust grain, the negative-ion drag force is found to be important. The effects of the negative-ion density, neutral-gas pressure, and dust-grain size on the forces are also considered. It is shown that by increasing the density of the negative ions one can effectively manipulate the dust grains. Our results imply that both dust voids and balls can be formed.

An approach for producing a large quantity of neutrons is proposed. It involves compression of a fuel foil and confinement of the resulting plasma between two intense laser pulses. It is shown that two circularly polarized laser pulses of amplitude a = 7 illuminating a deuterium-tritium foil of areal density 3.3 x 10(18) cm(-2) can produce about 4.2 x 10(6) neutrons per joule of the input laser energy.

Using symbolic dynamics of the one-dimensional unimodal map, the chaos stabilization mechanics of the feedback and limiter control schemes are considered. For feedback control, it is found that the control strength can be efficiently obtained from the superstable parameter of the embedded periodic orbits, and the scaling of the control-space period-doubling bifurcation cascade still obeys the Feigenbaum law. For Sarkovskii orbits, the scaling is also consistent with that of the original chaotic system. For limiter control, a single critical point in the unimodal map is extended to a superstable periodic window and a simple approach for determining the value of the control plateau is found. The scaling in the control space of the period-doubling bifurcation cascade is indeed superexponential. A different scaling for the fine structure of the Sarkovskii sequence is also found. Simple one-dimensional unimodal maps can also be used to generate maximum-length shift-register sequences.

A global, or averaged, model for complex low-pressure argon discharge plasmas containing dust grains is presented. The model consists of particle and power balance equations taking into account power loss on the dust grains and the discharge wall. The electron energy distribution is determined by a Boltzmann equation. The effects of the dust and the external conditions, such as the input power and neutral gas pressure, on the electron energy distribution, the electron temperature, the electron and ion number densities, and the dust charge are investigated. It is found that the dust subsystem can strongly affect the stationary state of the discharge by dynamically modifying the electron energy distribution, the electron temperature, the creation and loss of the plasma particles, as well as the power deposition. In particular, the power loss to the dust grains can take up a significant portion of the input power, often even exceeding the loss to the wall.

Ultrashort high-intensity electromagnetic solitons in both underdense and overdense plasmas are investigated. Comparison is made for solitons with smooth and sharp electron density profiles. It is found that subcycle relativistic solitons can propagate from low-density to high-density plasmas.

An analytical model for breathing oscillations in a nonuniform non-neutral plasma slab is developed. The plasma is relatively small and warm with the smallest dimension only of several Debye lengths. Nonuniformity in the equilibrium results in a frequency shift associated with pressure and boundary effects. The plasma size and temperature, being related to the frequency shift, can therefore be evaluated from frequency measurements. In particular, for small nonuniform plasmas the frequency of the breathing mode is twice that predicted by the cold fluid theory. Nonlinear oscillations are also considered and the pressure is shown to have an important effect on the dynamics. Analytical solutions for linear and nonlinear oscillations are obtained and compared with that from one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Good agreement is found.

An analytical model for nonlinear volume oscillations in a bounded cold plasma is developed. Although here the familiar propagating wave solutions do not exist, exact nonlinear standing waves subject to appropriate boundary conditions can nevertheless be found. The behaviors of the electrons and ions are described self-consistently in terms of Lagrangian variables. The analytical solutions are compared with that from particle-in-cell simulations. Good agreement is found in the regimes of interest.

The equilibrium profiles of the plasma parameters of large-area rf discharges in a finite-length metal-shielded dielectric cylinder are computed using a two-dimensional fluid code. The rf power is coupled to the plasma through edge-localized surface waves traveling in the azimuthal direction along the plasma edge. It is shown that self-consistent accounting for axial plasma diffusion and radial nonuniformity of the electron temperature can explain the frequently reported deviations of experimentally measured radial density profiles from that of the conventional linear diffusion models. The simulation results are in a good agreement with existing experimental data obtained from surface-wave sustained large-diameter plasmas.

A non-neutral plasma column in an asymmetric trapping field is considered in this paper. It is shown that nonlinearly interacting bulk plasma oscillations and quadrupole surface waves allow an exact analytical description. The absence of symmetry leads to nonintegrability and other nonlinear phenomena, such as passage through different resonances and phase locking. These phenomena should be observable in experiments involving elliptical traps and rotating walls and can affect the latters' applications.

Modulational instability of electrostatic short-wavelength ion waves in plasmas containing strongly coupled dusts with variable charge is considered. The evolution equations for the ion waves modulated by slow dust motion are obtained. The instability behavior differs considerably from that of plasmas with weakly coupled dust grains and depends strongly on the Coulomb coupling parameter as well as the dust-charge relaxation rate.

A Fermi-like pinball model is proposed for the nonlinear plasma maser effect, or turbulent bremsstrahlung, in the nonlinear interaction of plasma particles and waves. The model consists of a system of many noninteracting particles bouncing elastically between two oscillating walls. The walls act as energy and momentum sources and sinks for the particles, analogous to the wave fields in a weakly turbulent plasma. The oscillation amplitudes and frequencies of the walls determine the dynamics and distribution of the particles. The resulting asymptotic velocity distributions agree qualitatively with existing weak turbulence theories. It is also found that the second wall, which simulates the effect of the nonresonant wave-particle interaction, can destroy correlations in the particle dynamics and lead to the formation of a high-energy tail in the velocity distribution.

The effect of an internal low-frequency rotating current on inductively coupled plasmas in cylindrical chambers is studied. The electromagnetic field structure, power density distribution, the plasma density, and the operating regimes of the discharge are investigated using electrodynamic, power, and particle balance equations. It is shown that the rotating current sheet can dramatically improve the uniformity of the electromagnetic fields and the power transferred to the plasma electrons from that of conventional low-frequency inductively coupled plasma sources with external flat spiral inductive coils.

The Comment of Macchi et al. [Phys. Rev. E 60, 6234 (1999)] on our paper [Yu et al., Phys. Rev. E 59, 3583 (1999)] is considered. It is pointed out that our model was not intended to explain the experiments of Giulietti et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 3194 (1997)], as asserted by Macchi et al. The physics of the interaction of short-pulse superintense lasers of different polarizations with solid targets is discussed.