Plasma jets driven by ultraintense-laser interaction with thin foils

Kar, S.*; Borghesi, M.*; Bulanov, S. V.; Key, M. H.*; Liseykina, T. V.*; Macchi, A.*; Mackinnon, A. J.*; Patel, P. K.*; Romagnani, L.*; Schiavi, A.*; Willi, O.*

Experimental evidence of plasma jets ejected from the rear side of thin solid targets irradiated by ultra-intense ( 10 W cm) laser pulses is presented. The jets, detected by transverse inter-ferometric measurements with high spatial and temporal resolutions, show collimated expansion, lasting for several hundreds of picoseconds, and have substantially steep density gradients at their periphery. The predominant role played by radiation pressure of the laser in the jet formation process is highlighted analytically and by extensive two dimensional particle in cell simulations.