Plasma Jets Driven by Ultraintense-Laser Interaction with Thin Foils

Experimental evidence of plasma jets ejected from the rear side of thin solid targets irradiated by ultraintense (> 10(19) W cm(-2)) laser pulses is presented. The jets, detected by transverse interferometric measurements with high spatial and temporal resolutions, show collimated expansion lasting for several hundreds of picoseconds and have substantially steep density gradients at their periphery. The role played by radiation pressure of the laser in the jet formation process is highlighted analytically and by extensive two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.

Stable GeV Ion Beam Acceleration from Thin Foils by Circularly Polarized Laser Pulses

A stable relativistic ion acceleration regime for thin foils irradiated by circularly polarized laser pulses is suggested. In this regime, the "light-sail" stage of radiation pressure acceleration for ions is smoothly connected with the initial relativistic "hole-boring" stage, and a defined relationship between laser intensity I(0), foil density n(0), and thickness l(0) should be satisfied. For foils with a wide range of n(0), the required I(0) and l(0) for the regime are theoretically estimated and verified with the particle-in-cell code ILLUMINATION. It is shown for the first time by 2D simulations that high-density monoenergetic ion beams with energy above GeV/u and divergence of 10 degrees are produced by circularly polarized lasers at intensities of 10(22) W/cm(2), which are within reach of current laser systems.

Radiation pressure acceleration of thin foils with circularly polarized laser pulses

A new regime is described for radiation pressure acceleration of a thin foil by an intense laser beam of above 10(20) W cm(-2). Highly monoenergetic proton beams extending to giga-electron-volt energies can be produced with very high efficiency using circularly polarized light. The proton beams have a very small divergence angle (< 4 degrees). This new method allows the construction of ultra-compact proton and ion accelerators with ultra-short particle bursts.

Fast ion acceleration from thin foils irradiated by ultra-high intensity, ultra-high contrast laser pulses

Ion acceleration resulting from the interaction of ultra-high intensity (2 x 10(20) W/cm(2)) and ultra-high contrast (similar to 10(10)) laser pulses with 0.05-10 mu m thick Al foils at normal (0 degrees) and 35 degrees laser incidence is investigated. When decreasing the target thickness from 10 mu m down to 0.05 mu m, the accelerated ions become less divergent and the ion flux increases, particularly at normal (0 degrees) laser incidence on the target. A laser energy conversion into protons of,similar to 6.5% is estimated at 35 degrees laser incidence. Experimental results are in reasonable agreement with theoretical estimates and can be a benchmark for further theoretical and computational work. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3643133]

Ion acceleration and plasma jet formation in ultra-thin foils undergoing expansion and relativistic transparency

At sufficiently high laser intensities, the rapid heating to relativistic velocities and resulting decompression of plasma electrons in an ultra-thin target foil can result in the target becoming relativistically transparent to the laser light during the interaction. Ion acceleration in this regime is strongly affected by the transition from an opaque to a relativistically transparent plasma. By spatially resolving the laser-accelerated proton beam at near-normal laser incidence and at an incidence angle of 30°, we identify characteristic features both experimentally and in particle-in-cell simulations which are consistent with the onset of three distinct ion acceleration mechanisms: sheath acceleration; radiation pressure acceleration; and transparency-enhanced acceleration. The latter mechanism occurs late in the interaction and is mediated by the formation of a plasma jet extending into the expanding ion population. The effect of laser incident angle on the plasma jet is explored.

Pulsed Nd:YAG laser seam welding of AISI 316L stainless steel thin foils

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Effect of post-weld-annealing on the tensile deformation characteristics of laser-welded NiTi thin foil

Laser welding is an important process for fabricating complex components involving NiTi shape memory
alloy. As welding is a thermal process, the amount of heat input and the rate of cooling have significant
impact on the microstructure and hence the resultant characteristics of NiTi. In this study, the effect of
laser welding and post-weld-annealing from 573 K to 1173 K on the thermal phase transformation behaviors,
tensile deformation and micro-hardness characteristics of the laser-welded NiTi thin foils were investigated.
It was found that the as-welded sample exhibited inferior super-elasticity compared to the base
material, and the super-elasticity could be partially restored by annealing at 573 K. On the other hand,
annealing of the weldment above the recrystallization temperature would lower the super-elasticity.

Effects of laser beam energy on the pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding of thin sheet corrosion resistant materials

The aim of this study was to value the possibility to join, for pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding, thin foils lap joints for sealing components in corrosive environment. Experimental investigations were carried out using a pulsed neodymium: yttrium aluminum garnet laser weld to examine the influence of the pulse energy in the characteristics of the weld fillet. The pulse energy was varied from 1.0 to 2.5 J at increments of 0.25 J with a 4 ms pulse duration. The base materials used for this study were AISI 316L stainless steel and Ni-based alloys foils with 100 mu m thickness. The welds were analyzed by electronic and optical microscopy, tensile shear tests and micro hardness. The results indicate that pulse energy control is of considerable importance to thin foil weld quality because it can generate good mechanical properties and reduce discontinuities in weld joints. The ultimate tensile strength of the welded joints increased at first and then decreased as the pulse energy increased. In all the specimens, fracture occurred in the top foil heat-affected zone next to the fusion line. The microhardness was almost uniform across the parent metal, HAZ and weld metal. A slight increase in the fusion zone and heat-affected zone compared to those measured in the base metal was observed. This is related to the microstructural refinement in the fusion zone, induced by rapid cooling of the laser welding. The process appeared to be very sensitive to the gap between couples.

Activities of indium in solid solutions of Cu+In, Au+In and Cu+Au+In alloys

Thin foils of Cu, Au and Cu + Au alloys embedded in indium sesquioxide were equilibrated with controlled streams of CO-CO2 mixtures. The equilibrium concentrations of indium in the foils were determined by neutron activation analysis. The corresponding chemical potentials of indium were calculated from the standard free energies of formation of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and indium oxide. It was found that the size difference between the solute and the solvent does not make significant contributions to the solute—solute interaction energy in the α-phase. The chemical potential of indium at one at.% concentration is 8.6 Kcals more negative in gold than in copper at 900°K. The variation of this chemical potential with alloy composition in Cu + Au system was in good agreement with Alcock and Richardson's quasichemical equation. The agreement is strengthened by the accurate knowledge of the co-ordination number in these substitutional solid solutions from X-ray diffraction studies.

Chemical potential of germanium in its solid solutions with Cu, Ag and Au

Thin foils of copper, silver and gold were equilibrated with tetragonal GeO2 under controlled View the MathML source gas streams at 1000 K. The equilibrium concentration of germanium in the foils was determined by the X-ray fluorescence technique. The standard free energy of formation of tetragonal GeO2 was measured by a solid oxide galvanic cell. The chemical potential of germanium calculated from the experimental data and the free energies of formation of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide was found to decrease in the sequence Ag + Ge > Au + Ge > Cu + Ge. The more negative value for the chemical potential of germanium in solid copper, compared to that in solid gold, cannot be explained in terms of the strain energy factor, electro-negativity differences or the vaporization energies of the solvent, and suggests that the d band and its hybridization with s electrons are an important factor in determining the absolute values for the chemical potential in dilute solutions. However, the variation of the chemical potential with solute concentration can be correlated to the concentration of s and p electrons in the outer shell.