Plasma devices to guide and collimate a high density of MeV electrons.
The development of ultra-intense lasers has facilitated new studies in laboratory astrophysics and high-density nuclear science, including laser fusion. Such research relies on the efficient generation of enormous numbers of high-energy charged particles. For example, laser-matter interactions at petawatt (10(15) W) power levels can create pulses of MeV electrons with current densities as large as 10(12) A cm(-2). However, the divergence of these particle beams usually reduces the current density to a few times 10(6) A cm(-2) at distances of the order of centimetres from the source. The invention of devices that can direct such intense, pulsed energetic beams will revolutionize their applications. Here we report high-conductivity devices consisting of transient plasmas that increase the energy density of MeV electrons generated in laser-matter interactions by more than one order of magnitude. A plasma fibre created on a hollow-cone target guides and collimates electrons in a manner akin to the control of light by an optical fibre and collimator. Such plasma devices hold promise for applications using high energy-density particles and should trigger growth in charged particle optics.
Kodama
R
R
Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University, 2-6 Yamada-oka, Suita Osaka 565-0871, Japan. ryo@ile.osaka-u.ac.jp
Sentoku
Y
Y
Chen
Z L
ZL
Kumar
G R
GR
Hatchett
S P
SP
Toyama
Y
Y
Cowan
T E
TE
Freeman
R R
RR
Fuchs
J
J
Izawa
Y
Y
Key
M H
MH
Kitagawa
Y
Y
Kondo
K
K
Matsuoka
T
T
Nakamura
H
H
Nakatsutsumi
M
M
Norreys
P A
PA
Norimatsu
T
T
Snavely
R A
RA
Stephens
R B
RB
Tampo
M
M
Tanaka
K A
KA
Yabuuchi
T
T