Investigations of Field Dynamics in Laser Plasmas with Proton Imaging (eBook)

Investigations of Field Dynamics in Laser Plasmas with Proton Imaging 3
Supervisor’s Foreword 5
Acknowledgments 8
Contents 9
1 Introduction 12
References 14
Part I Basics 16
2 Ultra Short and Intense Laser Pulses 17
2.1…Mathematical Description 17
2.2…Single Electron Interaction 20
2.3…Ponderomotive Force 22
References 24
3 Plasma Physics 26
3.1…Light Propagation in Plasmas 26
3.2…Debye Length 29
3.3…Plasma Expansion 30
References 32
4 Ion Acceleration 34
4.1…Absorption Mechanisms 34
4.1.1 Resonance Absorption 34
4.1.2 Brunel Absorption (Vacuum Heating) 36
4.1.3 Ponderomotive Acceleration, Hole Boring and j x B Heating 37
4.2…Target Normal Sheath Acceleration 38
4.3 Alternative Acceleration Mechanisms 41
References 43
5 Laser System 46
5.1…Ti:Sa Laser System 46
5.2…Nd:glass Laser System 49
5.3…Synchronization 50
References 53
Part II Proton Beam Characterization 54
6 Proton and Ion Spectra 55
6.1…Thomson Spectrometer 55
6.2…Quasi-Monoenergetic Deuteron Bursts 58
6.3…Irregularities of the Thomson Parabolas 59
References 60
7 Beam Emittance 62
7.1…Virtual Source 63
7.2…Measurement of the Beam Emittance 64
References 66
8 Virtual Source Dynamics 67
8.1…Energy Dependent Measurement of Pinhole Projections 67
8.2…Shape of the Proton Beam 70
8.3…Energy Dependence of the Virtual Source 73
References 73
Part III Proton Imaging 75
9 Principle of Proton Imaging 76
9.1…Principle Experimental Setup 76
9.2…Gated Multi-Channel Plates 78
9.3…Time Resolution 79
References 80
10 Imaging Plasmas of Irradiated Foils 82
10.1…Experimental Setup 82
10.2…2D-Proton Images 83
References 86
11 Mass-Limited Targets 88
11.1…Experimental Setup 89
11.2…Water Droplet Generation 90
11.3…Proton Images of Irradiated Water Droplets 92
11.4…Three-dimensional Particle Tracing 96
References 98
12 Streak Deflectometry 101
12.1…The Proton Streak Camera 101
12.2…Streaking Transient Electric Fields 103
12.3…Fitting Calculations 105
12.4…Particle Tracing 107
References 110
13 Summary and Outlook 111
Reference 112
Part IV Appendix 113
14 Zernike Polynomials 114
ReferenceReference 115
15 Gated MCPs 116
Curriculum Vitae 120
Current Position 120
Education and Work History 120
List of Publications 121
Index 123