High order harmonics from relativistic electron spikes

Pirozhkov, A. S.; Kando, Masaki; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Faenov, A. Y.*; Pikuz, T. A.*; Kawachi, Tetsuya; Sagisaka, Akito; Koga, J. K.; Mori, Michiaki; Kawase, Keigo*; et al.

RAL-TR-2015-025, P. 22, 2015/00

https://www.clf.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/2014-15.aspx

Instrumentation for diagnostics and control of laser-accelerated proton (ion) beams

Bolton, P.; Borghesi, M.*; Brenner, C.*; Carroll, D. C.*; De Martinis, C.*; Fiorini, F.*; Flacco, A.*; Floquet, V.*; Fuchs, J.*; Gallegos, P.*; et al.

Physica Medica; European Journal of Medical Physics, 30(3), p.255 - 270, 2014/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmp.2013.09.002

Extreme field limits in the interaction of laser light with ultrarelativistic electrons

Bulanov, S. V.; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Hayashi, Yukio; Kando, Masaki; Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; Koga, J. K.; Kondo, Kiminori; Kotaki, Hideyuki; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Bulanov, S. S.*; et al.

AIP Conference Proceedings 1465, p.87 - 96, 2012/07

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4737545

Soft-X-ray harmonic comb from relativistic electron spikes

Pirozhkov, A. S.; Kando, Masaki; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Gallegos, P.*; Ahmed, H.*; Ragozin, E. N.*; Faenov, A. Ya.*; Pikuz, T.; Kawachi, Tetsuya; Sagisaka, Akito; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 108(13), p.135004_1 - 135004_5, 2012/03

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.135004

We demonstrate a new high-order harmonic generation mechanism reaching the "water window" spectral region in experiments with multi-terawatt femtosecond lasers irradiating gas jets. A few hundred harmonic orders are resolved, giving J/sr pulses. Harmonics are collectively emitted by an oscillating electron spike formed at the joint of the boundaries of a cavity and bow wave created by a relativistically self-focusing laser in underdense plasma. The spike sharpness and stability are explained by catastrophe theory. The mechanism is corroborated by particle-in-cell simulations.

On the design of experiments for the study of extreme field limits in the interaction of laser with ultrarelativistic electron beam

Bulanov, S. V.; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Hayashi, Yukio; Kando, Masaki; Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; Koga, J. K.; Kondo, Kiminori; Kotaki, Hideyuki; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Bulanov, S. S.*; et al.

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 660(1), p.31 - 42, 2011/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2011.09.029

Extreme field science

Bulanov, S. V.; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Hayashi, Yukio; Kando, Masaki; Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; Koga, J. K.; Kondo, Kiminori; Kotaki, Hideyuki; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Bulanov, S. S.*; et al.

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 53(12), p.124025_1 - 124025_13, 2011/11

https://doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/53/12/124025

The Progress in the laser-driven proton acceleration experiment at JAEA with table-top Ti:Sappire laser system

Nishiuchi, Mamiko; Ogura, Koichi; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Tanimoto, Tsuyoshi; Yogo, Akifumi; Sakaki, Hironao; Hori, Toshihiko; Fukuda, Yuji; Kanasaki, Masato; Sagisaka, Akito; et al.

Proceedings of SPIE Europe Optics + Optoelectronics 2011, Vol.8079, 7 Pages, 2011/04

https://doi.org/10.1117/12.886429

Because of the peculiar characteristics of the laser-driven proton beam, many potential applications are proposed including establishing compact medical accelerator for the cancer therapy. For our final destination to establish the compact laser-driven proton accelerator, the experiments are performed to investigate proton and ion acceleration from thin foil targets, using a high contrast, ultra-short laser pulse from the J-KAREN laser at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. The P-polarized laser pulse with the parameters of 800 nm, 40 fs, 4J, and with extremely high ASE contrast of 10 is focused onto the thin-foil targets with variable materials and thicknesses ranging from 100 um to sub-um. The achieved peak intensity is 10 Wcm. The maximum proton energy is reached to 14 MeV. The number of 10 MeV protons is enough to carry 2 Gy dose onto the skin of the mouse within 10min with 10 Hz operation. This enables us to carry out in-vivo test instead of in-vitro test.

Observation of high-order harmonics produced by relativistic laser-plasma interaction

Kando, Masaki; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Gallegos, P.*; Ahmed, H.*; Ragozin, E. N.*; Faenov, A.*; Pikuz, T.*; Kawachi, Tetsuya; Sagisaka, Akito; et al.

no journal, , 

When we focus laser pulses to the relativistic intensities (10 W/cm) in helium plasma, modulated spectra in the ultraviolet region (80- 300 eV) are observed in the forward direction. Some spectra contain odd and even high harmonics of the nearly fundamental frequency of the laser, continuum frequencies, and modulated structures. When we use a higher peak power laser (50-170 TW, 50fs), these spectral features are reproduced almost 100% probability. Also these spectra are observed when the laser polarization is changed to circular. The mechanism observed in our experiment is different from usual high-harmonics from gas targets, betatron radiation of electrons in wakefield, or nonlinear Thomson scattering due to above experimental conditions and results. We propose a theoretical model that electron density cusps formed by intense laser pulses radiate coherently. The validity of the model is confirmed with computer simulations.

High-order harmonic generation in gas jet targets in the relativistic laser-plasma interaction regime

Pirozhkov, A. S.; Kando, Masaki; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Gallegos, P.*; Ahmed, H.*; Ragozin, E. N.*; Faenov, A. Ya.*; Pikuz, T.; Kawachi, Tetsuya; Sagisaka, Akito; et al.

no journal, , 

We experimentally demonstrate a new regime of high-order harmonic generation by relativistic-irradiance lasers in gas jet targets. Bright harmonics with both the odd and even orders are generated in the forward direction by either linearly or circularly polarized pulses, while the base harmonic frequency is downshifted. With a 9 TW laser, the harmonics reach the "water window" spectral region. Using a 120 TW laser, we demonstrate the photon number scalability up to 40 uJ/sr per harmonic at 120 eV. We introduce a new harmonic generation mechanism based on the relativistic plasma phenomena and catastrophe theory.

High-order harmonic generation in gas jet targets by relativistic irradiance lasers

Pirozhkov, A. S.; Kando, Masaki; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Gallegos, P.*; Ahmed, H.*; Ragozin, E. N.*; Faenov, A. Ya.*; Pikuz, T.; Hayashi, Yukio; Kotaki, Hideyuki; et al.

no journal, , 

We have recently discovered a new high-order harmonic generation mechanism based on relativistic-irradiance ( W/cm) femtosecond lasers interacting with gas jet targets. The comb-like spectra consisting of even and odd orders are generated in the forward direction by either linearly or circularly polarized pulses. In experiments with the 9 TW J-KAREN laser, the spectra extended up to the photon energy of 360 eV, within the "water window" spectral range. We demonstrated the photon number scalability with laser power, reaching photons/sr within the 1200.5 nm spectral region at 120 TW with Astra Gemini laser. In this paper we describe the results concerning angular distribution, new data obtained with J-KAREN laser, and the generation mechanism in more details.