title: Plasma jets driven by ultraintense-laser interaction with thin foils.
abstract: Experimental evidence of plasma jets ejected from the rear side of thin solid targets irradiated by ultraintense (>10(19) W cm(-2)) laser pulses is presented. The jets, detected by transverse interferometric measurements with high spatial and temporal resolutions, show collimated expansion lasting for several hundreds of picoseconds and have substantially steep density gradients at their periphery. The role played by radiation pressure of the laser in the jet formation process is highlighted analytically and by extensive two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.
authors.affiliation: School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom. s.kar@qub.ac.uk
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kar
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borghesi
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Bulanov
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Key
authors.forename: T V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Liseykina
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Macchi
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Mackinnon
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Romagnani
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schiavi
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Willi