Speaker
Description
The intense-laser interaction with low-density nanostructured materials has received increased interest owing to the peculiar regime they enable [1]. This interaction regime, characterised by increased coupling between the laser radiation and the plasma, enables a more efficient heating of the plasma species without any change in the laser parameters, both at ultra-high intensities [2,3]—typical of laser-based particle accelerators, working on a sub-ps timescale—and moderate intensities [4]—typical of inertial-confinement fusion (ICF), working on a ns timescale. However, the modelling of laser-nanostructure interaction presents several challenges owing to the intrinsic material multiple length and density scales—from nm scale of the solid components, up to the 10s-of-µm scale of the material thickness—that affect the interaction [5,6]. In this context, this contribution aims at delving with laser-nanostructure interaction, focusing on nanofoams produced with pulsed-laser deposition (PLD). We present an overview of our PLD-nanofoam aggregation model, focusing on its capabilities in numerically reproducing realistic nanostructures. Then, we show the integration of the output of this code into particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to accurately simulate the laser-nanofoam interaction. Firstly, we focus on the ps and sub-ps timescale presenting simulations of the main laser pulse interacting with the complete target geometry. Then, we present our results on the kinetic investigation of nanofoam homogenisation process in ICF- and prepulse-relevant scenarios. Our results provide a new insight into the role of the nanostructure in intense-laser interaction with low-density nanostructured targets.
This work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium, funded by the European Union via the Euratom Research and Training Programme (Grant Agreement No 101052200 — EUROfusion). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.
[1] A. Pukhov et al., Physics of Plasmas, 6(7), 2847-2864 (1999).
[2] I. Prencipe et al., New Journal of Physics, 23(9) (2021).
[3] W. J. Ma et al., Physical Review Letters, 122(1) (2019).
[4] A. Maffini et al., Laser and Particle Beams, 2, 1-9 (2023).
[5] L. Fedeli et al., Scientific Reports, 8, 3834 (2018).
[6] M. Passoni et al., Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 61, 014022 (2020).
