Optically controlled dense current structures driven by relativistic plasma aperture-induced diffraction

Bruno Gonzalez-Izquierdo*, Ross J. Gray, Martin King, Rachel J. Dance, Robbie Wilson, John McCreadie, Nicholas M H Butler, Remi Capdessus, Steve Hawkes, James S. Green, Marco Borghesi, David Neely, Paul McKenna

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

53 Citations (Scopus)
528 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The collective response of charged particles to intense fields is intrinsic to plasma accelerators and radiation sources, relativistic optics and many astrophysical phenomena. Here we show that a relativistic plasma aperture is generated in thin foils by intense laser light, resulting in the fundamental optical process of diffraction. The plasma electrons collectively respond to the resulting laser near-field diffraction pattern, producing a beam of energetic electrons with a spatial structure that can be controlled by variation of the laser pulse parameters. It is shown that static electron-beam and induced-magnetic-field structures can be made to rotate at fixed or variable angular frequencies depending on the degree of ellipticity in the laser polarization. The concept is demonstrated numerically and verified experimentally, and is an important step towards optical control of charged particle dynamics in laser-driven dense plasma sources.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)505-512
Number of pages8
JournalNature Physics
Volume12
Early online date11 Jan 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2016

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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