arXiv subjects

X. Q. Yan

Publications and source records attributed to X. Q. Yan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

$^{197}$Au($γ,\,xn;\,x\,=\,1\thicksim9$) Reaction Cross Section Measurements using Laser-Driven Ultra-Intense $γ$-Ray Source

We present a new method for the measurements of photonuclear reaction flux-weighted average cross sections and isomeric ratios using a laser-driven bremsstrahlung $γ$-ray source. An ultra-bright ultra-fast 60$\,\thicksim\,$250 MeV bremsstrahlung $γ$-ray source was established using the 200 TW laser facility in the Compact Laser Plasma Accelerator Laboratory, Peking University, which could cover the energy range from knocking out neutrons to producing pions. Stable quasi-monoenergetic electron beams were generated via laser wakefield acceleration with a charge of 300$\,\thicksim\,$600 pC per shot. The averaged $γ$-ray intensities ($\geqslant$8 MeV) were higher than 10$^{8}$ per shot and the instantaneous intensities can reach above 10$^{19}$ s$^{-1}$ with a duration time about 6.7 ps. $^{65}$Cu($γ,\,n$)$^{64}$Cu and $^{27}$Al($γ,\,x$)$^{24}$Na reactions were used as $γ$-ray flux monitors in the experiments. The flux-weighted average cross sections and isomeric ratios of $^{197}$Au($γ,\,xn;\,x\,=\,1\thicksim9$) reactions were analyzed through activation measurements. The results showed good agreement with previous works and proved this method to be accurate. The $^{197}$Au($γ,\,xn;\,x\,=\,7\thicksim\,9$) reaction cross sections were first achieved with the highest threshold energy of 71.410 MeV. Theoretical cross sections of TALYS 1.9 were calculated to compare with experiment results. This method offered a unique way of gaining insight into photonuclear reaction research, especially for short-lived isomers which extremely lack experimental data.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2023

Towards the demonstration of photon-photon collision with compact lasers

We report a proposal to observe the two-photon Breit-Wheeler process in plasma driven by compact lasers. A high charge electron bunch can be generated from laser plasma wakefield acceleration when a tightly focused laser pulse transports in a sub-critical density plasma. The electron bunch scatters with the laser pulse coming from the opposite direction and results the emitting of high brilliance X-ray pulses. In a three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation with a laser pulse of $\sim$10 J, one could produce a X-ray pulse with photon number higher than $3\times10^{11}$ and brilliance above $1.6\times 10^{23}$ photons/s/mm$^2$/mrad$^2$/0.1$\%$BW at 1 MeV. The X-ray pulses collide in the plasma and create more than $1.1\times 10^5$ electron-positron pairs per shot. It is also found that the positrons can be accelerated transversely by a transverse electric field generated in the plasma, which enables the safe detection in the direction away from the laser pulses. This proposal which has solved key challenges in laser driven photon-photon collision could demonstrate the two-photon Breit-Wheeler process on a much more compact device in a single shot.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2020

Nuclear multipole responses from chiral effective field theory interaction

We probe nuclear multipole resonances in the framework of the random-phase approximation by using the interaction obtained from the chiral effective field theory. The three-nucleon force is included in a form of the in-medium two-nucleon interaction which was derived from the chiral three-nucleon force. The isoscalar monopole, isoscalar dipole, isovector dipole and isoscalar quadrupole resonances of the closed-shell $^{56,68,78}$Ni have been investigated. The calculations reasonably reproduce the experimental multipole resonances of $^{56,68}$Ni, and well describe the pygmy dipole resonance and dipole polarizability measured in $^{68}$Ni. The multipole resonances of $^{78}$Ni, including pygmy dipole resonance and dipole polarizability, are predicted. The detailed effects of the tensor force and three-body force are analyzed by dissecting the chiral interaction. We find that in general the tensor force effect on electric giant resonances is not as significant as the effect from the three-body force, although the tensor force provides more than half of the binding energy. The effect from three-body force is strong in light nuclei. Particularly, three-body force is crucial for the formation of the pygmy resonance in calculations.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2019

A New Injection and Acceleration Scheme of Positrons in the Laser-Plasma Bubble Regime

A novel approach for positron injection and acceleration in laser driven plasma wakefield is proposed. A theoretical model is developed and confirmed through PIC simulation. One ring-shaped beam and one co-axially propagating Gaussian beam drive wakefields in a preformed plasma volume filled with both electrons and positrons. The laser's ponderomotive force as well as the charge separation force in the front bucket of the first bubble are utilized to provide the transverse momenta of injected positrons and those positrons can be trapped by the focusing field and then accelerated by the wakefield. The simulation shows that a relatively high-charge, quasi-monoenergetic positron beams can be obtained.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

Deflection of a reflected intense circularly polarized light beam induced by asymmetric radiation pressure

A novel deflection effect of an intense laser beam with spin angular momentum is revealed theoretically by an analytical modeling using radiation pressure and momentum balance of laser plasma interaction in the relativistic regime, as a deviation from the law of reflection. The reflected beam deflects out of the plane of incidence with a deflection angle up to several milliradians, when a non-linear polarized laser, with the intensity $I_0\sim10^{19}$W/cm$^2$ and duration around tens of femtoseconds, is obliquely incident and reflected by an overdense plasma target. This effect originates from the asymmetric radiation pressure caused by spin angular momentum of the laser photons. The dependence of the deflection angle of a Gaussian-type laser on the parameters of laser pulse and plasma foil is theoretically derived, which is also confirmed by three dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of circularly polarized laser beams with the different intensity and pulse duration.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

Radiation rebound and Quantum Splash in Electron-Laser Collision

The radiation reaction (RR) is expected to play a critical role in light-matter interactions at extreme intensity. Utilizing the theoretical analyses and three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations, we demonstrate that electron reflection, induced by the RR in a head-on collision with an intense laser pulse, can provide pronounced signatures to discern the classical and quantum RR. In the classical regime, there is a precipitous threshold of laser intensity to achieve the whole electron bunch rebound. However, this threshold becomes a gradual transition in the quantum regime, where the electron bunch is quasi-isotropically scattered by the laser pulse and this process resembles a water splash. Leveraged on the derived dependence of classical radiation rebound on the parameters of laser pulses and electron bunches, a practical detecting method is proposed to distinguish the quantum discrete recoil and classical continuous RR force.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2019

Strong energy enhancement in a laser-driven plasma-based accelerator through stochastic friction

Conventionally, friction is understood as an efficient dissipation mechanism depleting a physical system of energy as an unavoidable feature of any realistic device involving moving parts, e.g., in mechanical brakes. In this work, we demonstrate that this intuitive picture loses validity in nonlinear quantum electrodynamics, exemplified in a scenario where spatially random friction counter-intuitively results in a highly directional energy flow. This peculiar behavior is caused by radiation friction, i.e., the energy loss of an accelerated charge due to the emission of radiation. We demonstrate analytically and numerically how radiation friction can enhance the performance of a specific class of laser-driven particle accelerators. We find the unexpected directional energy boost to be due to the particles' energy being reduced through friction whence the driving laser can accelerate them more efficiently. In a quantitative case we find the energy of the laser-accelerated particles to be enhanced by orders of magnitude.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2019

Forward sliding-swing acceleration: electron acceleration by high-intensity lasers in strong plasma magnetic fields

A high-intensity laser beam propagating through a dense plasma drives a strong current that robustly sustains a strong quasi-static Mega Tesla-level azimuthal magnetic field. The transverse laser field efficiently accelerates electrons in the presence of such a field that confines the transverse motion and deflects the electrons in the forward direction, establishing the novel forward-sliding swing acceleration mechanism. Its advantage is a threshold rather than resonant behavior, accelerating electrons to high energies for sufficiently strong laser-driven currents. We study the electrons' dynamics by a simplified model analytically, specifically deriving simple relations between the current, the particles' initial transverse momenta and the laser's field strength classifying the energy gain. We confirm the model's predictions by numerical simulations, indicating Mega ampere-level threshold currents and energy gains two orders of magnitude higher than achievable without the magnetic field.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2018

Highly collimated electron acceleration by longitudinal laser fields in a hollow-core target

The substantial angular divergence of electron beams produced by direct laser acceleration is often considered as an inherent negative feature of the mechanism. The divergence however arises primarily because the standard approach relies on transverse electron oscillations and their interplay with the transverse electric fields of the laser pulse. We propose a conceptually different approach to direct laser acceleration that leverages longitudinal laser electric fields that are present in a tightly focused laser beam. A structured hollow-core target is used to enhance the longitudinal fields and maintain them over a distance much longer than the Rayleigh length by guiding the laser pulse. Electrons are injected by the transverse laser electric field into the channel and then they are accelerated forward by the pulse, creating an electron current. The forces from electric and magnetic fields of this electron population compensate each other, creating a favorable configuration without a strong restoring force. We use two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to demonstrate that a low divergence energetic electron beam with an opening angle of less than 5$^\circ$ can be generated in this configuration. Most of the energy is transferred to the electrons by the longitudinal laser electric field and, given a sufficient acceleration distance, super-ponderomotive energies can be realized without sacrificing the collimation.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2018

Laser acceleration of highly energetic carbon ions using a double-layer target composed of slightly underdense plasma and ultrathin foil

We report the experimental generation of highly energetic carbon ions up to 48 MeV per nucleon by shooting double-layer targets composed of well-controlled slightly underdense plasma (SUP) and ultrathin foils with ultra-intense femtosecond laser pulses. Particle-in-cell simulations reveal that carbon ions residing in the ultrathin foils undergo radiation pressure acceleration and long-time sheath field acceleration in sequence due to the existence of the SUP in front of the foils. Such an acceleration scheme is especially suited for heavy ion acceleration with femtosecond laser pulses. The breakthrough of heavy ion energy up to multi-tens of MeV/u at high-repetition-rate would be able to trigger significant advances in nuclear physics, high energy density physics, and medical physics.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2017

Laser Driving Highly Collimated $γ$-ray Pulses for the Generation of $μ^-μ^+$ and $e^-e^+$ Pairs in $γ-γ$ Collider

A scheme to generate highly collimated $γ$-ray pulse is proposed for the production of muon and electron pairs in $γ-γ$ collider. The $γ$-ray pulse, with high conversion efficiency, can be produced as the result of electron phase-locked acceleration in longitudinal electric field through the interaction between an ultra-intense laser pulse and a narrow tube target. Numerical simulation shows that 18\% energy of a 10-PW laser pulse is transferred into the forward $γ$-rays in a divergence angle less than $ 3^\circ$. The $γ$-ray pulse is applied in $γ-γ$ collider, in which muon pairs can be produced and electron pairs can be enhanced by more than 3 orders of magnitude. This scheme, which could be realized with the coming 10PW class laser pulses, would allow the observation of a $γ-γ$ collider for electron and muon pairs in laboratory.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2017

Distribution uniformity of laser-accelerated proton beams

Compared with conventional accelerators, laser plasma accelerators can generate high energy ions at a greatly reduced scale, due to their TV/m acceleration gradient. A compact laser plasma accelerator (CLAPA) has been built at the Institute of Heavy Ion Physics at Peking University. It will be used for applied research like biological irradiation, astrophysics simulations, etc. A beamline system with multiple quadrupoles and an analyzing magnet for laser-accelerated ions is proposed here. Since laser-accelerated ion beams have broad energy spectra and large angular divergence, the parameters (beam waist position in the Y direction, beam line layout, drift distance, magnet angles etc.) of the beamline system are carefully designed and optimised to obtain a radially symmetric proton distribution at the irradiation platform. Requirements of energy selection and differences in focusing or defocusing in application systems greatly influence the evolution of proton distributions. With optimal parameters, radially symmetric proton distributions can be achieved and protons with different energy spread within 5% have similar transverse areas at the experiment target.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2017

Transmutation prospect of long-lived nuclear waste induced by high-charge electron beam from laser plasma accelerator

Photo-transmutation of long-lived nuclear waste induced by high-charge relativistic electron beam (e-beam) from laser plasma accelerator is demonstrated. Collimated relativistic e-beam with a high charge of approximately 100 nC is produced from high-intensity laser interaction with near-critical-density (NCD) plasma. Such e-beam impinges on a high-Z convertor and then radiates energetic bremsstrahlung photons with flux approaching 10^{11} per laser shot. Taking long-lived radionuclide ^{126}Sn as an example, the resulting transmutation reaction yield is the order of 10^{9} per laser shot, which is two orders of magnitude higher than obtained from previous studies. It is found that at lower densities, tightly focused laser irradiating relatively longer NCD plasmas can effectively enhance the transmutation efficiency. Furthermore, the photo-transmutation is generalized by considering mixed-nuclide waste samples, which suggests that the laser-accelerated high-charge e-beam could be an efficient tool to transmute long-lived nuclear waste.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2016

Radiating Electron Interaction with Multiple Colliding Electromagnetic Waves: Random Walk Trajectories, Levy Flights, Limit Circles, and Attractors (Survey of the Structurally Determinate Patterns)

The multiple colliding laser pulse concept formulated in Ref. [1] is beneficial for achieving an extremely high amplitude of coherent electromagnetic field. Since the topology of electric and magnetic fields oscillating in time of multiple colliding laser pulses is far from trivial and the radiation friction effects are significant in the high field limit, the dynamics of charged particles interacting with the multiple colliding laser pulses demonstrates remarkable features corresponding to random walk trajectories, limit circles, attractors, regular patterns and Levy flights. Under extremely high intensity conditions the nonlinear dissipation mechanism stabilizes the particle motion resulting in the charged particle trajectory being located within narrow regions and in the occurrence of a new class of regular patterns made by the particle ensembles.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2016

Radiation reaction induced spiral attractors in ultra-intense colliding laser beams

The radiation reaction effects on electron dynamics in counter-propagating circularly polarized laser beams are investigated through the linearization theorem and the results are in great agreement with numeric solutions. For the first time, the properties of fixed points in electron phase-space were analyzed with linear stability theory, showing that center nodes will become attractors if the classical radiation reaction is considered. Electron dynamics are significantly affected by the properties of the fixed points and the electron phase-space densities are found to be increasing exponentially near the attractors. The density growth rates are derived theoretically and further verified by particle-in-cell simulations, which can be detected in experiments to explore the effects of radiation reaction qualitatively. The attractor can also facilitate to realize a series of nanometer-scaled flying electron slices via adjusting the colliding laser frequencies.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2016

High Efficiency Gamma-Ray Flash Generation via Multiple Compton Scattering

Gamma-ray flash generation in near critical density (NCD) target irradiated by four symmetrical colliding laser pulses is numerically investigated. With peak intensities about $10^{23}$ W/cm$^2$, the laser pulses boost electron energy through direct laser acceleration, while pushing them inward with the ponderomotive force. After backscattering with counter-propagating laser, the accelerated electron is trapped in the optical lattice or the electromagnetic standing waves (SW) created by the coherent overlapping of the laser pulses, and emits gamma-ray photons in Multiple Compton Scattering regime, where electrons act as a medium transferring energy from the laser to gamma-rays. The energy conversion rate from laser pulses to gamma-ray can be as high as 50\%

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2015

Non-Maxwellian electron distributions resulting from direct laser acceleration in near-critical plasmas

The irradiation of few nm thick targets by a finite-contrast high-intensity short-pulse laser results in a strong pre-expansion of these targets at the arrival time of the main pulse. The targets decompress to near and lower than critical densities plasmas extending over few micrometers, i.e. multiple wavelengths. The interaction of the main pulse with such a highly localized but inhomogeneous target leads to the generation of a short channel and further self-focusing of the laser beam. Experiments at the GHOST laser system at UT Austin using such targets measured non-Maxwellian, peaked electron distribution with large bunch charge and high electron density in the laser propagation direction. These results are reproduced in 2D PIC simulations using the EPOCH code, identifying Direct Laser Acceleration (DLA) as the responsible mechanism. This is the first time that DLA has been observed to produce peaked spectra as opposed to broad, maxwellian spectra observed in earlier experiments. This high-density electrons have potential applications as injector beams for a further wakefield acceleration stage as well as for pump-probe applications.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2015

Optimization of the Combined Proton Acceleration Regime with a Target Composition Scheme

A target composition scheme to optimize the combined proton acceleration regime is presented and verified by two-dimensional particle-in-cell (2D PIC) simulations by using an ultra-intense circularly-polarized (CP) laser pulse irradiating an overdense hydrocarbon (CH) target, instead of a pure hydrogen (H) one. The combined acceleration regime is a two-stage proton acceleration scheme combining the radiation pressure dominated acceleration (RPDA) stage and the laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) stage sequentially together. With an ultra-intense CP laser pulse irradiating an overdense CH target, followed by an underdense tritium plasma gas, protons with higher energies (from about $20$ GeV up to about $30$ GeV) and lower energy spreads (from about $18\%$ down to about $5\%$ in full-width at half-maximum, or FWHM) are generated, as compared to the use of a pure H target. It is because protons can be more stably pre-accelerated in the first RPDA stage when using CH targets. With the increase of the carbon-to-hydrogen density ratio, the energy spread is lower and the maximum proton energy is higher. It also shows that for the same laser intensity around $10^{22}$ $Wcm^{-2}$, using the CH target will lead to a higher proton energy, as compared to the use of a pure H target. Additionally, proton energy can be further increased by employing a longitudinally negative gradient of a background plasma density.

physics.plasm-ph↗