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Ionization states for the multi-petawatt laser-QED regime

ORAL

Abstract

A paradigm shift in the physics of laser-plasma interactions is approaching with the commissioning of multi-petawatt laser facilities world-wide. Radiation reaction processes will result in the onset of electron-positron pair cascades and, with that, the absorption and partitioning of the incident laser energy, as well as the energy transport throughout the irradiated targets. To accurately quantify these effects, one must know the focused intensity on target in-situ. In this work, a new way of measuring the focused intensity on target is proposed based upon the ionization of Xe gas at low ambient pressure. The field ionization rates from Phys. Rev. A 59, 569 (1999) and from Phys. Rev. A 98, 043407 (2018), where the latter has been derived using Quantum Mechanics methods, have been implemented for the first time in the particle-in-cell code Smilei [Comput. Phys. Commun. 222, 351-373 (2018)]. A series of one- and two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are compared and shown to reproduce the charge states without presenting visible differences when increasing simulation dimensionality. The results provide a way to accurately verify the intensity on target using in-situ measurements.

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Presenters

  • Iustin Ouatu

    University of Oxford, Department of Physics, Atomic and Laser Physics sub-Department, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

Authors

  • Iustin Ouatu

    University of Oxford, Department of Physics, Atomic and Laser Physics sub-Department, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

  • Ben T Spiers

    University of Oxford, Department of Physics, Atomic and Laser Physics sub-Department, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

  • Ramy Aboushelbaya

    University of Oxford, Department of Physics, Atomic and Laser Physics sub-Department, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

  • Qingsong Feng

    University of Oxford, Department of Physics, Atomic and Laser Physics sub-Department, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

  • Marko W Mayr

    University of Oxford, Department of Physics, Atomic and Laser Physics sub-Department, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

  • Robert W Paddock

    University of Oxford, Department of Physics, Atomic and Laser Physics sub-Department, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

  • Robin Timmis

    University of Oxford, Department of Physics, Atomic and Laser Physics sub-Department, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

  • Peter A Norreys

    Rutherford Appleton Lab, Department of Physics, Atomic and Laser Physics sub-Department, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom; Central Laser Facility

  • Karl M Krushelnick

    University of Michigan, Center for Ultra-Fast Optics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Gérard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA