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Evgeny Gelfer

Publications and source records attributed to Evgeny Gelfer.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Coherent radiation of an electron bunch colliding with an intense laser pulse

We study the conditions for coherent radiation of an electron bunch driven by a counterpropagating strong pulsed electromagnetic plane wave. We derive the spectrum of the coherent radiation and show that it is emitted backwards with respect to the laser propagation direction and has a very narrow angular spread. We demonstrate that for a solid density plasma coherent radiation extends to frequencies up to hundreds of keV thereby enhancing the low-frequency part of the spectrum by many orders of magnitude. Our analytical findings are tested with 3D particle-in-cell simulations of an electron bunch passing through a laser pulse, clearly demonstrating how the coherence can essentially modify the observed radiation spectrum.

physics.plasm-ph

Radiation induced acceleration of ions

Radiation friction can have a substantial impact on electron dynamics in a transparent target exposed to a strong laser pulse. In particular, by modifying quiver electron motion, it can strongly enhance the longitudinal charge separation field, thus stimulating ion acceleration. We present a model and simulation results for such a radiation induced ion acceleration and study the scalings of the maximal attainable and average ion energies with respect to the laser and target parameters. We also compare the performance of this mechanism to the conventional ones.

physics.plasm-ph

Absorption and opacity threshold for a thin foil in a strong circularly polarized laser field

We show that a commonly accepted transparency threshold for a thin foil in a strong circularly polarized normally incident laser pulse needs a refinement. We present a new analytical model, which correctly accounts for laser absorption. The refined threshold is determined not solely by the laser amplitude, but other parameters are equally or even more important. Our predictions are in a perfect agreement with PIC simulations. The refined criterion is crucial for configuring laser plasma experiments in the high field domain. Besides, an opaque foil steepens the pulse front, this can be important for numerous applications.

physics.plasm-ph

Inverse Compton scattering from solid targets irradiated by ultra-short laser pulses in the $10^{22}-10^{23}\,\mathrm{W/cm^2}$ regime

Emission of high energy gamma rays via the non-linear inverse Compton scattering process (ICS) in interactions of ultra-intense laser pulses with thin solid foils is studied using particle-in-cell simulations. It is shown that the angular distribution of the ICS photons has a forward-oriented two-directional structure centred at an angle $\vartheta = \pm 30^\circ$, a value predicted by a theoretical model based on a standing wave approximation to the electromagnetic field in front of the target, which only increases at the highest intensities due to faster hole boring, which renders the approximation invalid. The conversion efficiency is shown to exhibit a super-linear increase with the driving pulse intensity. In comparison to emission via electron-nucleus bremsstrahlung, it is shown that the higher absorption, further enhanced by faster hole boring, in the targets with lower atomic number strongly favours the ICS process.

physics.plasm-ph

Gravitational waves generated by laser accelerated relativistic ions

The generation of gravitational waves by laser accelerated relativistic ions is investigated. The piston and light sail models of laser plasma acceleration are considered and analytical expressions for space-time metric perturbation are derived. For both models the dependence of gravitational waves amplitude on the laser and plasma parameters as well as gravitational waves spectrum and angular distribution are examined

physics.plasm-ph