Gianluca Gregori

Abstract:

X-ray scattering using highly brilliant x-ray free-electron laser (FEL) radiation provides new access to probe free-electron density, temperature and ionization in near-solid density plasmas. First experiments at the soft x-ray FEL FLASH at DESY, Hamburg, show the capabilities of this technique. The ultrashort FEL pulses in particular can probe equilibration phenomena occurring after excitation of the plasma using ultrashort optical laser pumping. We have investigated liquid hydrogen and find that the interaction of very intense soft x-ray FEL radiation alone heats the sample volume. As the plasma establishes, photons from the same pulse undergo scattering, thus probing the transient, warm dense matter state. We find a free-electron density of (2.6 ± 0.2) × 1020 cm-3 and an electron temperature of 14 ± 3.5 eV. In pump-probe experiments, using intense optical laser pulses to generate more extreme states of matter, this interaction of the probe pulse has to be considered in the interpretation of scattering data. In this paper, we present details of the experimental setup at FLASH and the diagnostic methods used to quantitatively analyse the data. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Abstract:

We calculate the static structure factor of dense multi-component plasmas. Large scale ab initio finite-temperature DFT molecular dynamics simulations are performed in order to cover the region where a consistent quantum treatment for the electrons is inevitable. Especially, the behavior at small wave numbers k can be inferred from the relation to the isothermal compressibility. Alternatively, the static structure factor is obtained by solving the integral equations for the pair correlation functions within the hypernetted chain (HNC) scheme. For this purpose we derive new effective two-particle quantum potentials for the interactions between the charge carriers from the full two-particle Slater sum by accounting for bound states. Comparison to the ab initio molecular dynamics simulations enables us to determine the short-range behavior of the effective electron-ion quantum potentials. Results for the static structure factor are presented for beryllium plasmas at solid density and at threefold compression. © 2009 Elsevier B.V.

Abstract:

Detailed angle and energy resolved measurements of positrons ejected from the back of a gold target that was irradiated with an intense picosecond duration laser pulse reveal that the positrons are ejected in a collimated relativistic jet. The laser-positron energy conversion efficiency is ∼2×10{-4}. The jets have ∼20 degree angular divergence and the energy distributions are quasimonoenergetic with energy of 4 to 20 MeV and a beam temperature of ∼1  MeV. The sheath electric field on the surface of the target is shown to determine the positron energy. The positron angular and energy distribution is controlled by varying the sheath field, through the laser conditions and target geometry.

Abstract:

We employ a pseudopotential approach to investigate the screening of ionic cores in partially ionized plasmas. Here, the effect of the tightly bound electrons is condensed into an effective potential between the (free) valence electrons and the ionic cores. Even for weak electron-ion coupling, the corresponding screening clouds show strong modifications from the Debye result for elements heavier than helium. Modifications of the theoretically predicted x-ray scattering signal and implications on measurements are discussed. © 2010 The American Physical Society.