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Intense attosecond light sources are required for investigating ultrafast electron dynamics, such as that in molecules and atoms, etc. However, so far the achievable photon energy remains at the keV level, thereby limiting their range of applications. For instance, probing intranuclear dynamics requires photon energies in the gamma-ray regime. We propose here a scheme for generating intense attosecond gamma-ray pulses by irradiating a thin solid-density foil with intense vortex laser. In the interaction, the laser driven-foil electrons are differentially accelerated within a quarter-wave field and become highly bunched. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that they can efficiently (with ∼ 30 % energy conversion efficiency) radiate ultrashort ( ∼ 400 as), high-flux ( > 10 10 photons per pulse), and ultrabrilliant (up to 1027 photons s−1 mm−2 mrad−2 per 0.1% BW at 1 MeV photon energy) gamma rays. With an x-ray driving laser, the scheme can even produce isolated bright sub-attosecond gamma-ray pulses that are useful for time-resolved nuclear spectroscopy and many other areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle collisions can have significant effects on plasma instabilities, especially in dense and/or low temperature plasmas. To understand the influence of collisional effects on the plasma waves, the Vlasov–Poisson system with Krook collisions is applied to study the long-term evolution of the two-stream (TS) and bump-on-tail (BOT) instabilities. The system is solved numerically with the fourth-order Runge–Kutta scheme and the Thomas algorithm. It is found that collisions can enhance the wave damping and mitigate the energy of the characteristic slow evolving nonlinear Landau damping oscillations associated with the wave-trapped electrons, especially if the collision rate ν is higher than 0.01 ω p , where ωp is the plasma frequency of the background plasma. Collisions can also decrease the growth rate and saturation level of the TS and BOT unstable waves and tend to shrink the phase space vortex and narrow the phase-mixed region of the trapped electrons. However, our simulations show that collisions cannot readily prevent the nonlinear Landau damping oscillations. In fact, only with ν > 0.001 ω p for the TS instability and ν > 0.01 ω p for the BOT instability, as well as evolution times greater than several hundred ω p − 1 , the vortex structure of the wave-trapped electrons can be undetectable. The corresponding growth rates also drop dramatically, and the maximum wave energy can be one or two orders lower than that of the collisionless limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generation of a thin plasma jet with embedded gigagauss axial magnetic fields from the frontal impact of a short linearly polarized laser pulse on an overdense microtube target is considered. It is a new scheme of axial magnetic field generation without initial laser angular momentum. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that the space-charge field of the laser expelled tube-front electrons will pull out carbon ions to form at the tube entrance a long-living low-density plasma bunch with gigagauss magnetic fields. The front center of the plasma bunch then stretches forward to form a thin gigagauss-magnetized plasma jet, which survives for sub-picosecond after the core of the laser has passed through the tube. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Because of the close relationship between seed coat color and forage seed quality, it is of great significance to reveal the effect of seed coat color on seed germination and seedling growth under drought stress. Methods: We explore the effect of different seed coat colors (yellow, dark brown) on the seed germination and seedling growth of alfalfa under simulated drought stress (polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) with eight osmotic potentials: 0 MPa, -0.1 MPa, -0.2 MPa, -0.3 MPa, -0.4 MPa, -0.6 MPa, -0.8 MPa, -1.0 MPa). Result: Under control conditions, the germination rate and germination energy of yellow seeds (91.6% and 91.2%, respectively) were higher than dark brown seeds (46.2% and 42.0%). The maximum seed germination rate and germination energy were observed in the -0.1MPa treatment for both yellow and dark brown seeds and were higher than control by 1.53% and 0.66% (yellow) and 9.96%, 14.76% (dark brown), respectively. The root length and seedling growth of two kinds of seeds were significantly inhibited when drought intensity increased. In summary, the germination and seedling growth traits of yellow seeds were much better than dark brown ones. Agronomically, selecting seed with high proportions of yellow coat color is more beneficial for seed storage and establishment of new alfalfa grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precision spectroscopy of molecular hydrogen can be used to test the quantum electrodynamics theory and determine the proton-to-electron mass ratio in a four-body system. Cavity-enhanced double-resonance spectroscopy is proposed to determine highly-excited rotation-vibration energies of HD with high precision. As a demonstration, the V-type comb-locked cavity-assisted double resonance (COCA-DR) spectroscopy of HD is measured by pumping the P(1) (2-0) line and probing the R(1) line in the same overtone band. The sum value of the two transition frequencies is determined to be 426 889 423 917 (26) kHz, representing a new test of theoretical calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Branched flow is an interesting phenomenon that can occur in diverse systems. It is usually linear in the sense that the flow does not alter the properties of the medium. Branched flow of light on thin films has recently been discovered. It is therefore of interest to know whether nonlinear light branching can also occur. Here, using particle-in-cell simulations, we find that in the case of an intense laser propagating through a randomly uneven medium, cascading local photoionization by the incident laser, together with the response of freed electrons in the strong laser fields, triggers space–time-dependent optical unevenness. The resulting branching pattern depends dramatically on the laser intensity. That is, the branching here is distinct from the existing linear ones. The observed branching properties agree well with theoretical analyses based on the Helmholtz equation. Nonlinear branched propagation of intense lasers potentially opens up a new area for laser–matter interaction and may be relevant to other branching phenomena of a nonlinear nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemistry research is presented describing the study of gallium nitride nanowires to determine characterization and growth of catalysts.

In experiments on the effect of magnetic field on electron transportation in laser–plasma interaction, the magnetic field is often produced by two coils and is mirror-like. In this paper, the transport and the reflection of fast electron beam generated in laser–plasma interaction in solid-density plasma immersed in a mirror magnetic field are studied using particle-in-cell simulation. The helicoidal motion of fast electrons in the field and the convergence of magnetic induction lines leads to the collimated transport and focusing of the fast electrons. The reflection of the fast electrons can lead to the decrease in the transmission ratio, and this reflection increases with the magnetic mirror ratio, but saturates at a certain level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use particle-in-cell simulation to demonstrate that the use of two split intense femtosecond laser pulses can significantly improve the proton energy in the target normal sheath acceleration scheme. By splitting a weak laser pulse from the main laser pulse and irradiating it on the target rear side, the hot electrons are greatly enhanced on both the front and back sides of the solid target, forming a low-density electron layer of a few microns thickness, which in turn further improves the absorption rate of the laser and leads to enhanced acceleration of protons. It is shown that for a wide range of laser intensities, the energy conversion efficiency to protons, the number of high-energy protons, and the cutoff proton energy are almost doubled compared to the single-laser case with the same total laser energy. This simple scheme potentially opens a degree of freedom for manipulating the proton acceleration process and should arouse broad interest due to its wide applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generation and transport of fast electrons play an important role in intense laser interaction with dense plasma. Here, we experimentally study fast electron generation using a planar aluminum target obliquely irradiated at a large incident angle by an ultrashort high-temporal-contrast relativistic laser pulse. Simulations show that for near-relativistic laser intensities, s-polarized lasers above a certain energy threshold can generate energetic electrons () with a high yield, which is different from the case of low laser contrast. It is also shown that the most energetic electrons are emitted along the target's surface and accelerated to high energies. The key features of the acceleration regimes of lasers with different polarizations are also given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collision of intermediate-energy heavy ions is an important way to investigate the state of high-density nuclear matter and formation of quark gluon plasmas. In this paper, we demonstrate from two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that hundreds-GeV Au79+ ions can be generated by ultrashort ∼1022–24 W cm−2 lasers interacting with high-Z grain doped gas. Under extremely intense laser field, strong γ-ray radiation has resulted in massive laser energy loss, and the invoked radiation reaction trapping of electrons weakens the heavy ion acceleration. However, due to hole-boring acceleration and multi-body expansion acceleration of high-Z grains, the energy conversion efficiency from laser to heavy ions is still up to 32%. Our results might provide an effective routine to carry out the experimental explorations of heavy-ion collisions by using hundreds-petawatt laser facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terahertz (THz) radiation from a plasma cylinder with embedded radial electric and axial magnetic fields is investigated. The plasma density and the electric and magnetic fields are such that the electron plasma frequency is near the electron cyclotron frequency and in the THz regime. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that the plasma electrons oscillate not only in the azimuthal direction but also in the radial direction. Spectral analysis shows that the resulting oscillating current pattern has a clearly defined characteristic frequency near the electron cyclotron frequency, suggesting resonance between the cyclotron and plasma oscillations. The resulting far-field THz radiation in the axial direction is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that when an intense picosecond laser pulse irradiates a target with steep but smooth density profile, the target protons can be accelerated to high energies with small divergence by a combination of target normal sheath acceleration and radiation pressure acceleration. The effects of plasma density profile on proton acceleration and collimation are investigated. In general, smaller(larger) density gradients lead to larger(smaller) self-generated azimuthal magnetic fields and smaller(larger) target-back electrostatic sheath fields, and thus proton beams with smaller(larger) divergence angle as well as cutoff energy. Accordingly, within limits, proton beams with desired peaked spectrum, energy, and divergence angle can be obtained by tailoring the target density profiles. It is also demonstrated that target tailoring can be achieved by having two suitable nanosecond lasers separately irradiating the front and back sides of a uniform plane slab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction of two parallel relativistic laser beams in underdense plasmas is investigated by considering the evolution of their wave envelopes. The energy transfer between the two lasers is given by an expression based on the evolution of the total laser power in a regime without beam mixing. It is shown that how the energy is transferred depends nonlinearly on the initial phase difference of the lasers, and the result of the interaction depends on the laser intensity, spot radius, and their separation distance. The results are verified by direct numerical solution of the relativistic nonlinear Schrödinger equations for the laser envelopes as well as particle-in-cell simulation. The study and results should be helpful for understanding the energy transfer behavior of multiple co-propagating laser beams in underdense plasmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Target-normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) of ions by >100-fs relativistic laser pulses irradiating a multichannel target consisting of a row of parallel long wires and a plane back foil is studied. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that the laser light pulls out from the wires a large number of dense hot attosecond electron bunches, which are synergetically accelerated forward by the relativistic ponderomotive force of the laser as well as the longitudinal electric field of a transverse magnetic mode that is excited in the vacuum channels between the wires. These electrons are characterized by a distinct two-temperature energy spectrum, with the temperature of the more energetic electrons close to twice the ponderomotive potential energy. After penetrating through the foil, they induce behind its rear surface a sheath electric field that is both stronger and frontally more extended than that without the channels. As a result, the TNSA ions have much higher maximum energy and the laser-to-ion energy conversion efficiency is also much higher. It is found that a laser of intensity 1.37 × 1020 W/cm2, duration 165 fs, and energy 25.6 J can produce 85 MeV protons and 31 MeV/u carbon ions, at 30% laser-to-ion energy conversion efficiency. The effects of the channel size and laser polarization on the TNSA ions are also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is studied using a surface diffusion model. It is shown that at low substrate temperatures (<=1000 K), the atomic hydrogen and ion fluxes from the plasma can strongly affect nanotube growth. The ion-induced hydrocarbon dissociation can be the main process that supplies carbon atoms for SWCNT growth and is responsible for the frequently reported higher (compared to thermal chemical vapor deposition) nanotube growth rates in plasma-based processes. On the other hand, excessive deposition of plasma ions and atomic hydrogen can reduce the diffusion length of the carbon-bearing species and their residence time on the nanotube lateral surfaces. This reduction can adversely affect the nanotube growth rates. The results here are in good agreement with the available experimental data and can be used for optimizing SWCNT growth in PECVD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oscillations of charged dust grains in the sheath region of a radio-frequency plasma containing negative ions are studied using a one-dimensional model for collisional sheaths. The forces on a dust grain in the sheath region are first analyzed and the force-balance conditions found. Oscillations of the levitated dusts are then investigated. Linear lattice waves, including one-dimensional longitudinal and two-dimensional hexagonal transverse lattice waves, as well as the effects of the negative ions and external magnetic field on the waves, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acceleration of protons in dense plastic foils irradiated by ultrahigh intensity laser pulses is simulated using a two-dimensional hybrid particle-in-cell scheme. For the chosen parameters of the overdense foils of densities ρ=0.2, 1, and 3 g/cm3 and of an ultrahigh intensity (2×1020 W/cm2) laser pulse, our simulations illustrate that a high-density target is favorable to high collimation of the target-normal-sheath acceleration protons but less energy for a short acceleration time (<100 fs). In particular, the difference of strong local heating of the carbon ion for different plasma densities is clearly observed at both the front and rear surfaces of thin solid targets, suggesting that the effect of the density and composition of the targets are also important for correctly simulating energetic ion generation in ultraintense laser-solid interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma transport in a hybrid dc vacuum arc plasma source for ion deposition and plasma immersion treatment is considered. It is found that external crossed electric and magnetic fields near the substrate can significantly reduce the relative amplitude of ion current fluctuations Īf at the substrate surface. In particular, Īf decreases with the applied magnetic field when the bias voltage exceeds 300 V, thus allowing one to reduce the deviations from the rated process parameters. This phenomenon can be attributed to an interaction between the metal-plasma jet from the arc source and the discharge plasma in the crossed fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the operation and mode jumps in low-frequency radio-frequency inductively coupled plasmas. Excitation of the electrostatic and electromagnetic discharge modes by a flat inductive coil; Examination of the power transfer efficiency and mode transition behavior; Increase of the discharge efficiency after the transition to the H discharge regime.

Presents information on a study which investigated the effect of charged particulates or dust particles on surface wave produced microwave discharges. Formulation; Calculation of frequencies of standing electromagnetic eigenmodes of a large-area of flat plasmas; Discussion.

An all-optical method for generating ultra-intense high-order-mode light pulse is investigated with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. We find that the conversion from a short intense circularly polarized incident Gaussian laser pulse into a transverse magnetic (TM) mode occurs as it propagates into a micro plasma waveguide. The strength of the longitudinal electric field of the excited TM modes can be almost two orders of magnitude higher than that of the original laser. The simulation results show that, for the lower-order modes, the trapped electrons lead to their revolving transverse structures. A linear plasma waveguide model is presented to predict the mode pattern and intensity of the longitudinal electric fields, which are in excellent agreement with those in the simulations. Relativistic-intense high-order-mode light can be useful for many applications, including accelerating charged particles to high energies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acceleration of protons from the interaction of two intersecting laser pulses in a double-layer target, consisting of a carbon slab with a thin hydrogen layer behind it, is investigated. It is found that a bunch of well-collimated, up to 270 MeV, quasi-monoenergetic protons can be generated. The affected target electrons are heated and accelerated forward by the laser pulses so that the target gradually becomes transparent as the lasers bore into it. Eventually, the thin target becomes fully transparent. The converging laser pulses can then pass through it and the hot backside electron cloud, together with the electrons trapped in them. As a result, behind the target, an inhomogeneous sheath electric field is formed, which not only accelerates the protons but also merges them into a quasi-monoenergetic bunch with low divergence. The energy and spatial spread of the bunch, as well as the peak energy, can be controlled by manipulating the locations of the two lasers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When an intense right-hand circularly polarized laser pulse propagates through a highly magnetized (in the direction of laser propagation) foil into the vacuum region between this foil and an unmagnetized foil, it can be multiply reflected and thus quasitrapped between the two foils until its energy is depleted. During the multiple reflections at the magnetized foil, foil electrons are accelerated by the laser light. Electrons that have gained sufficient energy can escape and appear as periodic energetic electron bunches at a time interval determined precisely by the trapping time or the distance between the two foils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Target-normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) of protons from a solid-density plasma target consisting of a thin foil, with a thin hydrogen layer behind it and a plasma-filled tube with a parabolic density profile at its front, is investigated using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. It is found that the targetback sheath field induced by the laser driven hot electrons is double peaked, so that the protons are additionally accelerated. The hot sheath electrons, and thus the TNSA protons, depend strongly on the tube plasma, which unlike the preplasma caused by the laser prepulse can be easily controlled. It is also found that the most energetic and best collimated TNSA protons are produced when the tube plasma is of near-critical density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A normalized weighting function model for the average period of particles trapped in the potential wells of waves undergoing nonlinear Landau damping is considered. The model preserves the conservation properties of the trapped particles and relates them to the evolution of the wave envelope. It is valid when there are more shallowly trapped particles than deeply trapped particles, such as in long-time nonlinear Landau damping, as well as stabilities due to trapped particles at long times. The model is also useful for estimating the validity of the often invoked assumption that most trapped particles in nonlinear waves are deeply trapped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long distance propagation of an energetic laser pulse with intensity slightly below that for multi-photon ionization in air is considered analytically, by noting that in the process, it is mainly the peak region of the pulse that interacts with the air molecules. Similar to that of much shorter femtosecond laser pulses of similar intensity, the affected air becomes slightly ionized and self-consistently forms a co-propagating thin and low-density plasma filament along the axis. It is found that a hundred-Joule-level laser pulse with a relatively large spot radius and pulse duration can propagate (also in the form of a self-consistent filament) tens of kilometers through the atmosphere. Such laser propagation properties should have applications in many areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]