Interaction of Short Petawatt Laser Pulses with Plasma
- Theory and Simulations

Laserlab Europe Workshop

Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg-Haus, Darmstadt
October 14 - 17, 2007 -
Registered Participants Information

Title:	Dr.
Last Name:	Naumova
First Name:	Natalia
E-Mail:	natalia.naumovaensta.fr
Affiliation for Badge:	LOA, Ecole Polytechnique
Institute:
Address (Street):	Chemin de la Huniere
Postal Code, City:	91761 Palaiseau
Country:	France
Phone:	+33 169 31 9731
Fax:	+33 169 31 9996
Author(s):	I.V. Sokolov (1), N.M. Naumova (2), J.A. Nees (3), G.A. Mourou (4), V.P. Yanovsky (3)
Institute(s):	(1) Space Physics Research Laboratory, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (2) Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquee, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, 91761 France (3) Center for Ultrafast Optical Science and FOCUS Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (4) Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquee, UMR 7639 ENSTA, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, 91761 Palaiseau, France
Title:	Effect of radiation back-reaction on the interaction of super-strong laser fields with plasmas
Abstract:	We analyze the effect of self-force on a single electron and on plasma electrons giving attention to the electromagnetic energy generated by non-linear Thomson scattering. The effect is essential if the scattered energy is comparable with the rest-mass energy of the electron in the frame of reference where the electron was initially at rest. We develop a method for solving the Lorentz-Abraham-Dirac equation and accounting for radiation in a self-consistent manner. The solution is then applied to the interactions of super-strong laser fields with an electron and a plasma layer including the presence of strong charge separation fields. This scheme allows a simulation of resulting radiation with spatial and spectral distributions, and demonstrates the possibility of efficient conversion (up to several {\%}) of incident radiation to $\gamma $-ray emission at intensities of $\sim $10$^{22}$W/cm$^{2}$, recently achieved in experiments.