title: Electron heating in subpicosecond laser interaction with overdense and near-critical plasmas.
abstract: In this work we investigate electron heating induced by intense laser interaction with micrometric flat solid foils in the context of laser-driven ion acceleration. We propose a simple law to predict the electron temperature in a wider range of laser parameters with respect to commonly used existing models. An extensive two-dimensional (2D) and 3D numerical campaign shows that electron heating is due to the combined actions of j×B and Brunel effect. Electron temperature can be well described with a simple function of pulse intensity and angle of incidence, with parameters dependent on pulse polarization. We then combine our model for the electron temperature with an existing model for laser-ion acceleration, using recent experimental results as a benchmark. We also discuss an exploratory attempt to model electron temperature for multilayered foam-attached targets, which have been proven recently to be an attractive target concept for laser-driven ion acceleration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano University, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cialfi
authors.affiliation: Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano University, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fedeli
authors.affiliation: Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano University, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Passoni