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We examine electron kinetic effects in broadband-laser-driven back-stimulated Raman scattering (BSRS) bursts using particle-in-cell simulations. These bursts occur during the nonlinear stage, causing reflectivity spikes and generating large numbers of hot electrons. Long-duration simulations are performed to observe burst events, and a simplified model is developed to eliminate the interference of the broadband laser's random intensity fluctuations. Using the simplified model, we isolate and characterize the spectrum of electron plasma waves. The spectrum changes from a sideband structure to a turbulence-like structure during the burst. A significant asymmetry in the spectrum is observed. This asymmetry is amplified and transferred to electron phase space by high-intensity broadband laser pulses, leading to violent vortex-merging and generation of hot electrons. The proportion of hot electrons increases from 6.76% to 14.7% during a single violent burst event. We demonstrate that kinetic effects profoundly influence the BSRS evolution driven by broadband lasers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new evolution pattern for broadband laser excited stimulated Raman back-scattering (BSRS) in the kinetic regime is proposed by numerical simulations. It is found that the change of coherence of different frequency beamlets will cause the fluctuation of laser intensity, generating an ensemble of random intensity pulses and leading to an intermittent excitation of BSRS. The kinetic inflation and intense amplification of scattered light are observed due to the synergism between these pulses, which cause a burst of instantaneous reflectivity. The synergistic effect is highly bandwidth-dependent. Under the bandwidth similar to the existing broadband laser facilities, these bursts will generate over-expected scattered light and hot electrons. Fortunately, a large bandwidth laser can still inactivate the synergy mechanism and mitigate the scattering effectively. We formulated a theoretical model to predict the inactivate point, and the calculation Δ ω / ω 0 = 2.57 % is in good agreement with the numerical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental and simulation data [Moreau et al., Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 62, 014013 (2019); Kaymak et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 035004 (2016)] indicate that self-generated magnetic fields play an important role in enhancing the flux and energy of relativistic electrons accelerated by ultra-intense laser pulse irradiation with nanostructured arrays. A fully relativistic analytical model for the generation of the magnetic field based on electron magneto-hydrodynamic description is presented here. The analytical model shows that this self-generated magnetic field originates in the nonparallel density gradient and fast electron current at the interfaces of a nanolayered target. A general formula for the self-generated magnetic field is found, which closely agrees with the simulation scaling over the relevant intensity range. The result is beneficial to the experimental designs for the interaction of the laser pulse with the nanostructured arrays to improve laser-to-electron energy coupling and the quality of forward hot electrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation is used to investigate radiation-pressure driven acceleration and compression of small solid-density plasma by intense laser pulses. It is found that multiple impacts by presently available short-pulse lasers on a small hemispheric shell target can create a long-living tiny quasineutral monoenergetic plasma bunch of very high energy density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proton acceleration by ultra-intense laser pulse irradiating a target with cross-section smaller than the laser spot size and connected to a parabolic density channel is investigated. The target splits the laser into two parallel propagating parts, which snowplow the back-side plasma electrons along their paths, creating two adjacent parallel wakes and an intense return current in the gap between them. The radiation-pressure pre-accelerated target protons trapped in the wake fields now undergo acceleration as well as collimation by the quasistatic wake electrostatic and magnetic fields. Particle-in-cell simulations show that stable long-distance acceleration can be realized, and a 30 fs monoenergetic ion beam of >10 GeV peak energy and <2° divergence can be produced by a circularly polarized laser pulse at an intensity of about 1022 W/cm2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]