title: Energy penetration into arrays of aligned nanowires irradiated with relativistic intensities: Scaling to terabar pressures.
abstract: Ultrahigh-energy density (UHED) matter, characterized by energy densities >1 × 108J cm-3and pressures greater than a gigabar, is encountered in the center of stars and inertial confinement fusion capsules driven by the world's largest lasers. Similar conditions can be obtained with compact, ultrahigh contrast, femtosecond lasers focused to relativistic intensities onto targets composed of aligned nanowire arrays. We report the measurement of the key physical process in determining the energy density deposited in high-aspect-ratio nanowire array plasmas: the energy penetration. By monitoring the x-ray emission from buried Co tracer segments in Ni nanowire arrays irradiated at an intensity of 4 × 1019W cm-2, we demonstrate energy penetration depths of several micrometers, leading to UHED plasmas of that size. Relativistic three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, validated by these measurements, predict that irradiation of nanostructures at intensities of >1 × 1022W cm-2will lead to a virtually unexplored extreme UHED plasma regime characterized by energy densities in excess of 8 × 1010J cm-3, equivalent to a pressure of 0.35 Tbar.
authors.affiliation: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Clayton
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bargsten
authors.affiliation: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Reed
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hollinger
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Maria Gabriela
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9569-6076
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Capeluto
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Vural
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kaymak
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pukhov
authors.affiliation: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Shoujun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7670-2733
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rockwood
authors.affiliation: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Keiss
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94551, USA.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tommasini
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94551, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1853-5815
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: London
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94551, USA.
authors.forename: Jaebum
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: ARTEP Inc., Ellicott City, MD 21042, USA.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6033-7778
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Busquet
authors.affiliation: ARTEP Inc., Ellicott City, MD 21042, USA.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3014-2790
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klapisch
authors.affiliation: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Vyacheslav N
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5256-4997
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Shlyaptsev
authors.affiliation: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.; Physics Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Jorge J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Rocca
keywords: Laser matter interaction; relativistic plasmas; ultra-high energy density matter; ultra-high energy density plasmas