Laboratory astroparticle physics

Abstract:

Experiments show that application of laser smoothing schemes including smoothing by spectral dispersion and polarization smoothing effectively suppresses stimulated Raman scattering from a 2ω (527 nm) laser beam in a low average-gain plasma with a steep density gradient. Full-wave simulations reproduce the observed trends in the data and show that the scattering reduction is an indirect result of suppressing active filamentation. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.

Abstract:

Measurements of the microscopic response of warm dense matter have been demonstrated by multi-keV inelastic x-ray scattering using laser-based sources. These techniques have been used to study the high frequency electron correlations (plasmons) in low to mid- Z plasmas. The advent of fourth generation light sources will provide high fluxes of narrowband and coherent x rays that will allow to look at the low frequency correlations (the ion-acoustic waves). In this paper we present an analysis of such low frequency modes by calculating the frequency dependent ion-ion structure factor. Our model includes all the relevant multibody contributions arising from strong coupling and nonideal plasma effects. In particular, the ion-ion structure factor is obtained within the memory function formalism by satisfying a finite number of sum rules. This work could be used as a basis to a direct experimental test of dense plasma model as soon as keV free electron laser sources will become available. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.

Abstract:

We have performed short-pulse x-ray scattering measurements on laser-driven shock-compressed plastic samples in the warm dense matter regime, providing instantaneous snapshots of the system evolution. Time-resolved and angularly resolved scattered spectra sensitive to the correlation effects in the plasma show the appearance of short-range order within a few interionic separations. Comparison with radiation-hydrodynamic simulations indicates that the shocked plastic is compressed with a temperature of a few electron volts. These results are important for the understanding of the thermodynamic behavior of strongly correlated matter for conditions relevant to both laboratory astrophysics and inertial confinement fusion research. © 2009 The American Physical Society.