Optical probing of ultrafast laser-induced solid-to-overdense-plasma transitions

Yasmina Azamoum; Georg Alexander Becker; Sebastian Keppler; Guillaume Duchateau; Stefan Skupin; Mickael Grech; Fabrice Catoire; Sebastian Hell; Issa Tamer; Marco Hornung; Marco Hellwing; Alexander Kessler; Franck Schorcht; Malte Christoph Kaluza

doi:10.1038/s41377-024-01444-y

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

Optical probing of ultrafast laser-induced solid-to-overdense-plasma transitions

Original Articles

- Optical probing of ultrafast laser-induced solid-to-overdense-plasma transitions
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 13, Issue 5, Pages: 973-984(2024)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Planckstr. 1, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany
  2.Helmholtz Institute Jena, Fröbelstieg 3, 07743 Jena, Germany
  3.Institute of Optics and Quantum Electronics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany
  4.CEA-CESTA, 15 Avenue des Sablières, CS60001, 33116 Le Barp, Cedex, France
  5.Institut Lumière Matière, UMR 5306 - CNRS, Université de Lyon 1, 69622 Villeurbanne, France
  6.LULI, CNRS, CEA, Sorbonne Université, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Palaiseau, France
  7.Université de Bordeaux-CNRS-CEA, CELIA, UMR 5107 Talence, France
- Author bio：
  
  Yasmina Azamoum (y.azamoum@hi-jena.gsi.de)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-024-01444-y
  CLC：
- Received：31 August 2023，
  
  Revised：2024-03-29，
  
  Accepted：06 April 2024，
  
  Published Online：08 May 2024，
  
  Published：31 May 2024
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Azamoum, Y. et al. Optical probing of ultrafast laser-induced solid-to-overdense-plasma transitions.,Light: Science & Applications, 13, 973-984 (2024).
DOI：

Azamoum, Y. et al. Optical probing of ultrafast laser-induced solid-to-overdense-plasma transitions.,Light: Science & Applications, 13, 973-984 (2024). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-024-01444-y.

摘要

Abstract

Understanding the solid target dynamics resulting from the interaction with an ultrashort laser pulse is a challenging fundamental multi-physics problem involving atomic and solid-state physics

plasma physics

and laser physics. Knowledge of the initial interplay of the underlying processes is essential to many applications ranging from low-power laser regimes like laser-induced ablation to high-power laser regimes like laser-driven ion acceleration. Accessing the properties of the so-called pre-plasma formed as the laser pulse's rising edge ionizes the target is complicated from the theoretical and experimental point of view

and many aspects of this laser-induced transition from solid to overdense plasma over picosecond timescales are still open questions. On the one hand

laser-driven ion acce

leration requires precise control of the pre-plasma because the efficiency of the acceleration process crucially depends on the target properties at the arrival of the relativistic intensity peak of the pulse. On the other hand

efficient laser ablation requires

for example

preventing the so-called "plasma shielding". By capturing the dynamics of the initial stage of the interaction

we report on a detailed visualization of the pre-plasma formation and evolution. Nanometer-thin diamond-like carbon foils are shown to transition from solid to plasma during the laser rising edge with intensities

W/cm

. Single-shot near-infrared probe transmission measurements evidence sub-picosecond dynamics of an expanding plasma with densities above 10

−3

(about 100 times the critical plasma density). The complementarity of a solid-state interaction model and kinetic plasma description provides deep insight into the interplay of initial ionization

collisions

and expansion.

关键词

Keywords

references

Lin, Z. Y., Ji, L. F. & Hong, M. H. Enhancement of femtosecond laser-induced surface ablation via temporal overlapping double-pulse irradiation. Photonics Res. 8 , 271–278 (2020)..

Gaudfrin, K. et al. Fused silica ablation by double femtosecond laser pulses: influence of polarization state. Opt. Express 28 , 15189–15206 (2020)..

Dittrich, S., Barcikowski, S. & Gökce, B. Plasma and nanoparticle shielding during pulsed laser ablation in liquids cause ablation efficiency decrease. Opto-Electron. Adv. 4 , 200072 (2021)..

Dittrich, S. et al. Time resolved studies reveal the origin of the unparalleled high efficiency of one nanosecond laser ablation in liquids. Opto-Electron. Adv. 5 , 210053 (2022)..

Clark, E. L. et al. Energetic heavy-ion and proton generation from ultraintense laser-plasma interactions with solids. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 , 1654–1657 (2000)..

Snavely, R. A. et al. Intense high-energy proton beams from petawatt-laser irradiation of solids. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 , 2945–2948 (2000)..

Romagnani, L. et al. Dynamics of electric fields driving the laser acceleration of multi-MeV protons. Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 , 195001 (2005)..

Roth, M. et al. Fast ignition by intense laser-accelerated proton beams. Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 , 436–439 (2001)..

Fernández, J. C. et al. Fast ignition with laser-driven proton and ion beams. Nucl. Fusion 54 , 054006 (2014)..

Barberio, M. et al. Laser-accelerated particle beams for stress testing of materials. Nat. Commun. 9 , 372 (2018)..

Kraft, S. D. et al. Dose-dependent biological damage of tumour cells by laser-accelerated proton beams. N. J. Phys. 12 , 085003 (2010)..

Tinganelli, W. & Durante, M. Carbon ion radiobiology. Cancers 12 , 3022 (2020)..

Kroll, F. et al. Tumour irradiation in mice with a laser-accelerated proton beam. Nat. Phys. 18 , 316–322 (2022)..

Higginson, A. et al. Near-100 MeV protons via a laser-driven transparency-enhanced hybrid acceleration scheme. Nat. Commun. 9 , 724 (2018)..

Sengbusch, E. et al. Maximum proton kinetic energy and patient-generated neutron fluence considerations in proton beam arc delivery radiation therapy. Med. Phys. 36 , 364–372 (2009)..

Brantov, A. V. et al. Synchronized ion acceleration by ultraintense slow light. Phys. Rev. Lett. 116 , 085004 (2016)..

Göthel, I. et al. Optimized laser ion acceleration at the relativistic critical density surface. Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 64 , 044010 (2022)..

Dover, N. P. et al. Enhanced ion acceleration from transparency-driven foils demonstrated at two ultraintense laser facilities. Light Sci. Appl. 12 , 71 (2023)..

Rehwald, M. et al. Ultra-short pulse laser acceleration of protons to 80 MeV from cryo genic hydrogen jets tailored to near-critical density. Nat. Commun. 14 , 4009 (2023)..

Esirkepov, T. et al. Highly efficient relativistic-ion generation in the laser-piston regime. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92 , 175003 (2004)..

Wilks, S. C. et al. Energetic proton generation in ultra-intense laser-solid interactions. Phys. Plasmas 8 , 542–549 (2001)..

McKenna, P. et al. Effects of front surface plasma expansion on proton acceleration in ultraintense laser irradiation of foil targets. Laser Part. Beams 26 , 591–596 (2008)..

Wagner, F. et al. Maximum proton energy above 85 MeV from the relativistic interaction of laser pulses with micrometer thick CH 2 targets. Phys. Rev. Lett. 116 , 205002 (2016)..

Kim, I. J. et al. Radiation pressure acceleration of protons to 93 MeV with circularly polarized petawatt laser pulses. Phys. Plasmas 23 , 070701 (2016)..

Lefebvre, E. & Bonnaud, G. Transparency/opacity of a solid target illuminated by an ultrahigh-intensity laser pulse. Phys. Rev. Lett. 74 , 2002–2005 (1995)..

d'Humières, E. et al. Proton acceleration mechanisms in high-intensity laser interaction with thin foils. Phys. Plasmas 12 , 062704 (2005)..

Arber, T. D. et al. Contemporary particle-in-cell approach to laser-plasma modelling. Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 57 , 113001 (2015)..

Derouillat, J. et al. SMILEI: a collaborative, open-source, multi-purpose particle-in-cell code for plasma simulation. Comput. Phys. Commun. 222 , 351–373 (2018)..

Fryxell, B. et al. FLASH: an adaptive mesh hydrodynamics code for modeling astrophysical thermonuclear flashes. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 131 , 273–334 (2000)..

Ramis, R. et al. MULTI-fs - A computer code for laser-plasma interaction in thefemtosecond regime. Comput. Phys. Commun. 183 , 637–655 (2012)..

Pirozhkov, A. S. et al. Diagnostic of laser contrast using target reflectivity. Appl. Phys. Lett. 94 , 241102 (2009)..

Kalashnikov, M. P. et al. Dynamics of laser-plasma interaction at 10 18 W/cm 2 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 73 , 260–263 (1994)..

Zepf, M. et al. Measurements of the hole boring velocity from Doppler shifted harmonic emission from solid targets. Phys. Plasmas 3 , 3242–3244 (1996)..

Borghesi, M. et al. Characterization of laser plasmas for interaction studies: progress in time-resolved density mapping. Phys. Rev. E 54 , 6769–6773 (1996)..

Adumi, K. et al. Characterization of preplasma produced by an ultrahigh intensity laser system. Phys. Plasmas 11 , 3721–3725 (2004)..

Wagner, F. et al. Pre-plasma formation in experiments using petawatt lasers. Opt. Express 22 , 29505–29514 (2014)..

Dulat, A. et al. Subpicosecond pre-plasma dynamics of a high contrast, ultraintense laser–solid target interaction. Opt. Lett. 47 , 5684–5687 (2022)..

Dobosz, S. et al. Probing hot and dense laser-induced plasmas with ultrafast XUV pulses. Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 , 025001 (2005)..

Mahieu, B. et al. Probing warm dense matter using femtosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy with a laser-produced betatron source. Nat. Commun. 9 , 3276 (2018)..

Gaus, L. et al. Probing ultrafast laser plasma processes inside solids with resonant small-angle x-ray scattering. Phys. Rev. Res. 3 , 043194 (2021)..

Ping, Y. et al. Broadband dielectric function of nonequilibrium warm dense gold. Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 , 255003 (2006)..

Pineau, A. et al. Benchmarking solid-to-plasma transition modeling for inertial confinement fusion laser-imprint with a pump-probe experiment. Phys. Rev. Res. 4 , 033178 (2022)..

Lebugle, M. et al. Dynamics of femtosecond laser absorption of fused silica in the ablation regime. J. Appl. Phys. 116 , 063105 (2014)..

Polli, D. et al. Effective temporal resolution in pump-probe spectroscopy with strongly chirped pulses. Phys. Rev. A 82 , 053809 (2010)..

Duchateau, G. et al. Modeling the solid-to-plasma transition for laser imprinting in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion. Phys. Rev. E 100 , 033201 (2019)..

Rethfeld, B. Unified model for the free-electron avalanche in laser-irradiated dielectrics. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92 , 187401 (2004)..

Rousse, A. et al. Non-thermal melting in semiconductors measured at femtosecond resolution. Nature 410 , 65–68 (2001)..

Sundaram, S. K. & Mazur, E. Inducing and probing non-thermal transitions in semiconductors using femtosecond laser pulses. Nat. Mater. 1 , 217–224 (2002)..

Hornung, M. et al. 54 J pulses with 18 nm bandwidth from a diode-pumped chirped-pulse amplification laser system. Opt. Lett. 41 , 5413–5416 (2016)..

Zeisler, S. K. & Jaggi, V. Multilayer carbon foils for cyclotron beam extraction. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A: Accel. Spectrometers, Detect. Assoc. Equip. 590 , 18–21 (2008)..

Robertson, J. Diamond-like amorphous carbon. Mater. Sci. Eng. : R: Rep. 37 , 129–281 (2002)..

Tauc, J., Grigorovici, R. & Vancu, A. Optical properties and electronic structure of amorphous germanium. Phys. Status Solidi (B) 15 , 627–637 (1966)..

Stock, F. et al. High performance diamond-like carbon layers obtained by pulsed laser deposition for conductive electrode applications. Appl. Phys. A 123 , 590 (2017)..

Tamer, I. et al. Few-cycle fs-pumped NOPA with passive ultrabroadband spectral shaping. Opt. Express 28 , 19034–19043 (2020)..

Born, M. & Wolf, E. Principles of Optics , 7th ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (1999).

Abelès, F. Recherches sur la propagation des ondes électromagnétiques sinusoïdales dans les milieux stratifiés. Annales de. Phys. 12 , 706–782 (1950)..

Lederer, F., Trutschel, U. & Waechter, C. Prismless excitation of guided waves. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 8 , 1536–1540 (1991)..

Keldysh, L. V. Ionization in the field of a strong electromagnetic wave. J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 20 , 1307–1314 (1965)..

Gattass, R. R. & Mazur, E. Femtosecond laser micromachining in transparent materials. Nat. Photonics 2 , 219–225 (2008)..

Gamaly, E. G. The physics of ultra-short laser interaction with solids at non-relativistic intensities. Phys. Rep. 508 , 91–243 (2011)..

Duchateau, G., Feit, M. D. & Demos, S. G. Strong nonlinear growth of energy coupling during laser irradiation of transparent dielectrics and its significance for laser induced damage. J. Appl. Phys. 111 , 093106 (2012)..

Duchateau, G., Feit, M. D. & Demos, S. G. Transient material properties during defect-assisted laser breakdown in deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystals. J. Appl. Phys. 115 , 103506 (2014)..

Views

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

Light | Ultrafast laser-induced solid-super-dense plasma transition

No data

Related Author

No data

Related Institution

No data

⁰