Projects per year
Abstract
Contemporary high-power laser systems make use of solid-state laser technology to reach petawatt pulse powers. The breakdown threshold for optical components in these systems, however, demands beam diameters up to 1 m. Raman amplification of laser beams promises a breakthrough by the use of much smaller amplifying media, i.e., millimeter-diameter-wide plasmas. Through the first large-scale multidimensional particle-in-cell simulations of this process, we have identified the parameter regime where multipetawatt peak laser powers can be reached, while the influence of damaging laser-plasma instabilities is only minor. Snapshots of the probe laser pulse being amplified, generated using state-of-the-art visualization techniques, are presented.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2622-2623 |
Number of pages | 2 |
Journal | IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science |
Volume | 39 |
Issue number | 11 special issue |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2011 |
Keywords
- numerical simulation
- plasma-based
- raman amplification
- laser pulses
- petawatt powers
Projects
- 2 Finished
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Instabilities in non-thermal plasmas
Phelps, A., Bingham, R., Ronald, K. & Speirs, D.
EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
1/04/09 → 31/03/13
Project: Research
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Beam driven instabilities in magnetized plasmas
Phelps, A., Bingham, R., Cross, A., Ronald, K. & Speirs, D.
EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
1/04/06 → 30/09/09
Project: Research