In the tape helix slow-wave system, discontinuous dielectrics have great effects on the dispersion characteristics. In this paper, the tape helix slow-wave system, including an inner and an outer metal shield, tape helix, nylon support, and de-ionized water as filling dielectric, was analyzed. Effects of dielectric discontinuity caused by the support dielectric and filling dielectric on the dispersion characteristics were studied in detail. The dispersion relations, phase velocities, slow-wave coefficients, and electric lengths of the spatial harmonics in the system were calculated. Results showed that, if the permittivity of support dielectric was smaller than that of the filling dielectric, frequencies of the spatial harmonics in the system rose, phase velocities and slow-wave coefficients increased, the slow-wave effect of the system was weakened so that the previous electric length was shortened. The reverse condition corresponded to the reverse results, and the electromagnetic simulation also proved it. By use of the helical pulse forming line of accelerator based on the studied tape helix slow-wave system, the electric lengths of the system were tested as 188.5 ns and 200 ns in experiments where the thicknesses of nylon support were 6 mm and 3 mm, respectively. The theoretical calculation results 198 ns and 211 ns basically corresponded to experimental results, which only had relative errors as 5 and 5.5%, respectively.

The physical phenomena of plasma plume generation and plasma expansion by target-laser interaction are considered for moderate laser power density. The kinetics of target vaporization, atom ionization, and plasma heating are described. The mechanism of electric sheath formation near the surface, electron emission from the target, and the electrical breakdown phenomena by laser irradiation are analyzed. The plasma expansion is described taking into account the near target plasma structure and the absorption of the laser radiation. The mechanisms accelerating the plasma and generating an electric field in it are discussed. The work reviews experiments and theoretical models and summarizes the results in order to understand the measurements and to discuss open questions. As example, the plasma parameters (electron temperature and density, degree of ionization, and plasma velocity) are calculated for an Ag target using the developed model that considers self-consistently the target heating, kinetics of target evaporation, plasma heating, and ion flux to the target. The calculated ion velocity in the expanding plasma jet is in accordance with the measurement. The ion energy linearly depends on the ion charge state, as observed experimentally.

The optimum convolution of dual short pulse for producing the maximum wakefield and the highest dissociation probability of CH4 has been investigated. By using three fundamental shapes of pulses though four different arrangements, the generated wake are considered in plasma. It is found that when the first and second pulses were rectangular–triangular and sinusoidal pulse shapes, respectively, the resultant wakefield amplitude is the highest. This effect opens up a new novel way by pulse shaping mechanism in the photo dissociation dynamics of molecules and controlling of chemical reactions in the desired channels by short pulse intense lasers for reducing the computation time of genetic algorithm model. Using field assisted dissociation model, the dissociation probability for a CH4+ molecule exposed to a 100 femtosecond 8 Jcm−2 Ti:Sapphire laser pulse is calculated. Here, the highest possible dissociation probability of the methane ion is calculated by the gradient optimization method in which the gradient of a function should be in the direction of the local extremes. The C-H molecular bond of CH4+ ion is assumed to be in the same direction as the electric field component of the laser pulse. These results show that there is an excellent match with experimental data. The remarkable feature of this work is that the sensitivity of the dissociation probability of the initial bond length q, is studied and the desired product channel is controlled by variation of the laser intensity and it's time evolution by introducing a characteristic vectored space for intensity and duration of two tailored rectangular femtosecond laser pulses.

Repetitive nanosecond-pulse discharge with a highly inhomogeneous electric field was investigated in air at atmospheric pressure. Three repetitive nanosecond generators were used, and the rise times of the voltage pulses were 15, 1, and 0.2 ns, respectively. Under different experimental conditions, X-rays and runaway electron beams were directly measured using various setups. The variables affecting X-rays and runaway electrons, including gap distance, pulse repetition frequency, anode geometry, and material, were investigated. It was shown that it was significantly easier to record the X-rays than the runaway electrons in the repetitive nanosecond-pulse discharge. It was confirmed that a volume diffuse discharge was attributed to the generation of runaway electrons and the corresponding X-rays.

The Blumlein pulse forming line (BPFL) consisting of an inner coaxial pulse forming line (PFL) and an outer coaxial PFL is widely used in the field of pulsed power, especially for intense electron-beam accelerators (IEBA). The output voltage waveform determines the quality and characteristics of the output beam current of the IEBA. Comparing with the conventional BPFL, an IEBA based on a strip spiral type BPFL can increase the duration of the output voltage in the same geometrical volume. However, for the spiral type BPFL, the voltage waveform on a matched load may be distorted, which influences the electron-beam quality. In this paper, the output waveform of an IEBA based on strip spiral BPFL is analyzed. It is found that there is fluctuation on the flattop of the main pulse, and the flatness is increased with the increment of the output voltage. According to the time integrated pictures of the cathode holder during the operation of the IEBA, the electron emission of the cathode holder is one of the reasons to cause the variance of the flatness. Furthermore, the distribution of the current density of spiral middle cylinder of the BPFL is calculated by using electromagnetic simulation software, and it is obtained that the current density is not uniform, and which leads to the nonuniformity of the impedance of BPFL. Meanwhile, when the nonuniformity of the BPFL is taken into account, the operation of the whole accelerator is simulated using a circuit-simulation code called PSpice. It is obtained that the nonuniformity of the BPFL influences the flatness of the output voltage waveform. In order to get an ideal square pulse voltage waveform and to improve the electron beam quality of such an accelerator, the uniformity of the spiral middle cylinder should be improved and the electron emission of the cathode holder should be avoided. The theoretical analysis and simulated output voltage waveform shows reasonable agreement with that of the experimental results.

In this paper, the influence of the electron flux limiter fe on hohlraum plasmas is studied by using the two-dimensional code LARED-H, and a method to experimentally determine fe via the motion of the M-band emission region in Au hohlraum is proposed. From our simulations, the limited free streaming flux may dominates the heat conduction in the regions with steep temperature gradient, including the laser deposition region, the flux-heated overcritical region, and the laser channel boundary between the hot laser plasmas and the surrounding radiation ablated plasmas, while these are important X-ray emission regions. Hence, the choosing of fe may influence the wall plasma expansion and the laser spot motion, and further influence the motion of the emission regions. From our study, the motion of the M-band (>1.5 keV) emission region is sensitive to fe when the limited free streaming flux dominates the heat conduction of the wall plasma expansion region, and so it is possible to determine fe via the motion of the M-band emission region. In this work, the model used in our simulations is taken from the wall and laser spot motion experiments done by Huser et al. (2009).

For a real, meaningful pump-probe experiment with attosecond temporal resolution, an intense isolated attosecond pulse is in demand. For that purpose we report the generation of an intense isolated attosecond pulse, especially in X-ray region using a current-enhanced self-amplified spontaneous emission in a free electron laser (FEL). We use a few cycle laser pulse to manipulate the electron-bunch inside a two-period planar wiggler. In our study, we employ the electron beam parameters of Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL)-XFEL. The RF phase effect of accelerator columns on the longitudinal energy distribution profile and current profile of electron-bunch is also studied, aiming that these results can be experimentally realized in PAL-XFEL. We show indeed that the manipulation of electron-energy bunch profile may lead to the generation of an isolated attosecond hard X-ray pulse: 150 attosecond radiation pulse at 0.1 nm wavelength can be generated.

A two-dimensional theoretical model for the evolution of solid-density plasma irradiated by short, intense laser pulse is introduced. The electrons near the target surface are pushed inward by the radiation pressure, leading to a receding electron density jump where the laser is reflected. The electrostatic field of the resulting charge separation eventually balances the radiation pressure at the laser peak. After that the charge separation field becomes dominant. It accelerates and compresses the ions that are left behind until they merge with the compressed electrons, resulting in a high-density plasma peak. The laser pulse reflected from the receding electron density jump loses energy in plasma and suffers Doppler frequency red-shift, which can provide valuable information on the laser absorption rate and the speed of the receding electrons. Electron oscillations, including the u × B oscillations across the density jump at twice the laser frequency during the laser action, as well as the low-frequency oscillations appearing after laser action, are identified.

We report numerical results of the linear growth of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) in compressible fluids and in the presence of a magnetic field. These results are obtained with the Lagrangian code LPC-MHD in which media are supposed to be compressible ideal gases. We first applied a magnetic field perpendicular to the wave vector and perpendicular to the shock wave propagation and observed no changes on the perturbation growth velocity compared to the case without magnetic field. We also considered the configuration where the magnetic field is parallel to the wave vector. We observed the stabilization of the instability with oscillations of the perturbations amplitude. Numerical results are compared to impulsive acceleration model of the RMI in the presence of a transverse magnetic field, in the non-compressible limit. A good agreement is obtained between numerical results and model for both the amplitude and the frequency of oscillations. Compressibility seems to have negligible effects.

A novel electron acceleration approach with two overlapping linearly polarized laser pulses in vacuum is proposed. By our simulation, the energy and space spreads can reduce greatly comparing with the acceleration with only one laser pulse having doubled peak laser intensity for realistic laser parameters and the average energy gain from our scheme can be doubled for certain pulse lengths, at the same time. Using numerical simulation, analytical criteria for optimal regimes of our acceleration scheme is found.

The paper presets the results of a study on a self-magnetically insulated ion diode with an explosive-emission potential electrode. The experiments have been carried out using the TEMP-4M accelerator, operating in a double-pulse mode: the first negative pulse (300–500 ns, 100–150 kV) followed by the second positive pulse (150 ns, 250–300 kV). The ion beam energy density was 0.3–2.5 J/cm2; the beam was composed from carbon ions (80–85%) and protons. We studied several geometries of the diode: planar and focusing strip arrangement, annular and spiral geometries. It was shown that during the second voltage pulse, a condition of magnetic insulation in the diode gap is fulfilled (B/Bcr ≥3). Using the new spiral geometry of the diode, it was possible to increase the efficiency of ion current generation due to the suppression of the electron component of the total diode current by increasing the electron transit time in the gap. We have increased the efficiency of carbon ion generation from 5–9% (in the planar strip diodes) up to 17–20% in the spiral diode. The spiral geometry of the diode makes it possible to increase the efficiency of C+ ion generation 25–30 times compared to the space-charge-limited current (Childe-Langmuir limit). This is more than two times higher than in other known geometries of self-magnetically insulated diodes. The spiral diode has a resource of more than 107 pulses.

Compressed ion beams are being studied as a driver for inertial confinement fusion energy and for the creation of matter in the high-energy-density regime. In order to facilitate compression of a positive ion charge bunch longitudinally and transversely beyond the limit determined by the space-charge field of the bunch, a source of charge-neutralizing electrons must be provided. Plasma sources have been developed for the NDCX-I and NDCX-II experimental facilities, both for the 2-m-long, field-free drift regions, and for the small-diameter interior of the multi-Tesla final focus solenoid. Barium titanate based cylinders with a high dielectric coefficient are used to line the wall of the 2-m-long drift region and by applying a 9 kV pulse between the inner and outer surfaces of the cylinders, plasma with a density in the 1010 cm−3 range is formed. Results are presented from experiments using this plasma source on NDCX-I. A compact plasma source 5.1 cm long and 3.8 cm in diameter, also made using the barium titanate based material, has been developed for use in the bore of the final focus solenoid. Plasma generated near the wall of the plasma source will follow the fringing magnetic field lines of the solenoid and help to fill the bore of the magnet with plasma. Improved designs for the barium titanate plasma sources are being considered that use different inner-surface electrode materials and structures, and also use a modified electrical driver employing a spark gap crowbar switch. In addition, plasma source designs using so-called flashboard technology have been developed. In the flashboard plasma source, high density plasma is formed when the applied high voltage pulse causes a series of breakdowns between isolated copper patches aligned in rows along the surface of the 0.2 mm thick flashboard.

Production of sharply collimated high velocity outflows – plasma jets from massive planar targets by a single laser beam at PALS facility is clarified via numerical simulations. Since only a few experimental data on the intensity distribution in the interaction beam near the focus are available for the PALS facility, the laser beam profile was calculated by a numerical model of the laser system and the interaction optics. The obtained intensity profiles are used as the input for plasma dynamic simulations by our cylindrical two-dimensional fluid code PALE. Jet formation due to laser intensity profile with a minimum on the axis is demonstrated. The outflow collimation improves significantly for heavier elements, even when radiative cooling is omitted. Using an optimized interaction beam profile, a homogeneous jet with a length exceeding its diameter by several times may be reliably generated for applications in laboratory astrophysics and impact ignition studies.

The new possibility of side-on laser ignition of p-11B with negligible radioactivity encouraged to study the fusion of solid state p-7Li fuel that again turns out to be only about 10 times more difficult than the side-on ignition of solid deuterium-tritium using petawatt-picosecond laser pulses at anomalous interaction conditions if very high contrast ratio. Updated cross sections of the nuclear reaction are included.

We investigated a dynamic procedure for relativistic channeling by a linearly polarized ultraintense laser pulse in overdense plasma, subsequently determining a phenomenological formula for the channel-digging speed. Channeling of the linearly polarized pulse usually results in a sharp-cut (non-adiabatic) pulse front, since the pulse is continuously reflected on the transparency-opacity interface during the channeling process. Using the novel formula for the channel-digging speed, it was possible to analytically predict where such a sharp-cut occurs longitudinally.

The interaction of near infrared femtosecond laser pulses with a Cu based alloy (brass) in ambient air at atmospheric pressure and under different laser conditions was investigated. The effects of laser fluence and number of pulses on surface morphology and ablation rate were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy. Ablation rates were found to rapidly increase from 83 to 604 nm/pulse in the fluence range 1.14–12.21 J/cm2. At fluence >12.21 J/cm2, ablation rates increased slowly to a maximum (607 nm/pulse at 19.14 J/cm2), and then decreased at fluence higher than 20.47 J/cm2 to 564 nm/pulse at 24.89 J/cm2. Large amounts of ablated material in a form of agglomerated fine particles were observed around the ablation craters as the number of laser pulses and fluence increased. The study of surface morphology shows reduced thermal effects with femtosecond laser ablation in comparison to nanosecond laser ablation at low fluence.

It is shown that various spectroscopic methods based on measurements of X-ray spectra radiated from cluster targets can be used for estimation of the destruction degree of clusters by laser prepulses. These methods allow insight to be gained regarding the important issue of preservation of the dense cluster core at the moment of the arrival of the main laser pulse. In addition, they can be used for quantitative estimation of the size of the undestroyed parts of the clusters and also for measuring the temperature and density of the preplasmas produced by the laser prepulses.

To control the shape of the ultra-thin electron layer produced by directly interaction of ultrahigh contrast laser with ultra-thin foil target, we investigated the spacial distribution and temporal evolution of electron layers produced from single and double foil targets through two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Results show that electron layers produced from double foil targets can fly with unperturbed velocity for a much longer time than in the single foil case, which can be explained by the integrated contribution of charge separation field from both the two foils. Further studies show that through adjusting the foil expansion, electron layers with different shapes can be obtained. Detailed studies on the forming process of layers show that electron momentum distribution evolves rapidly along with the pump laser and then the vanishing of electron transverse momentum induced by the reflected laser results in the forming of layer shape. So different foil expansion corresponds to different moments that reflected laser interact with electron layer, when the electron transverse momentum distribution is different. After the reflected laser interact with electron layer, the resultant longitude momentum distribution will finally lead to various electron layer shapes.

The out-of-equilibrium situation in which an initially sharp-edged cylindrical electron beam, that could, e.g., model electrons flowing within a wire, is injected into a plasma is considered. A detailed computation of the subsequently produced magnetic field is presented. The control parameter of the problem is shown to be the ratio of the beam radius to the electron skin depth. Two alternative ways to address analytically the problem are considered: one uses the usual Laplace transform approach, the other one involves Riemann's method in which causality conditions manifest through some integrals of triple products of Bessel functions.

This paper presents an investigation of a self-consistent, theoretical model, which explains the ring formation in a super-Gaussian laser beam propagating in plasma with transverse magnetic field, characterized by relativistic nonlinearity. Higher order terms (up to r4) in the expansion of the dielectric function and the eikonal have been taken into account. The condition for the formation of a dark and bright ring has been used to study focusing/defocusing of the beam. It is seen that inclusion of higher order terms does significantly affect the dependence of beam width parameter on the distance of propagation. Self-focusing of super-Gaussian beam is studied at various values of super-Gaussian coefficient, m and magnetic field. Further, we have studied some distinct features of critical power curves for varying values of magnetic field.