title: Effects of laser polarizations on shock generation and shock ion acceleration in overdense plasmas.
abstract: The effects of laser-pulse polarization on the generation of an electrostatic shock in an overdense plasma were investigated using particle-in-cell simulations. We found, from one-dimensional simulations, that total and average energies of reflected ions from a circular polarization- (CP) driven shock front are a few times higher than those from a linear polarization- (LP) driven one for a given pulse energy. Moreover, it was discovered that the pulse transmittance is the single dominant factor for determining the CP-shock formation, while the LP shock is affected by the plasma scale length as well as the transmittance. In two-dimensional simulations, it is observed that the transverse instability, such as Weibel-like instability, can be suppressed more efficiently by CP pulses.
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UNIST, 50 UNIST-gil, Ulju-gun, Ulsan 689-798, Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Kuk
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: School of Natural Science, UNIST, 50 UNIST-gil, Ulju-gun, Ulsan 689-798, Korea.
authors.forename: Teyoun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Bio-Photonics Research Section, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, 218 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-700, Korea.
authors.forename: Moon Youn
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: School of Natural Science, UNIST, 50 UNIST-gil, Ulju-gun, Ulsan 689-798, Korea.
authors.forename: Min Sup
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Hur