Relativistic Electron Mirrors - From High Intensity Laser Nanofoil Interactions

A dense sheet of electrons accelerated to close to the speed of light can act as a tuneable mirror that can generate bright bursts of laser-like radiation in the short wavelength range simply via the reflection of a counter-propagating laser pulse. This thesis investigates the generation of such a relativistic electron mirror structure in a series of experiments accompanied by computer simulations. It is shown that such relativistic mirror can indeed be created from the interaction of a high-intensity laser pulse with a nanometer-scale, ultrathin foil. The reported work gives a intriguing insight into the complex dynamics of high-intensity laser-nanofoil interactions and constitutes a major step towards the development of a relativistic mirror, which could potentially generate bright burst of X-rays on a micro-scale.

List of contents

Theoretical Background.- Experimental Methods: Lasers, Targets and Detectors.- Electron Acceleration from Laser-Nanofoil Interactions.- Coherent Thomson Backscattering from Relativistic Electron Mirrors.

Summary

A dense sheet of electrons accelerated to close to the speed of light can act as a tuneable mirror that can generate bright bursts of laser-like radiation in the short wavelength range simply via the reflection of a counter-propagating laser pulse. This thesis investigates the generation of such a relativistic electron mirror structure in a series of experiments accompanied by computer simulations. It is shown that such relativistic mirror can indeed be created from the interaction of a high-intensity laser pulse with a nanometer-scale, ultrathin foil. The reported work gives a intriguing insight into the complex dynamics of high-intensity laser-nanofoil interactions and constitutes a major step towards the development of a relativistic mirror, which could potentially generate bright burst of X-rays on a micro-scale.

Product details

• Authors: Daniel Kiefer
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 07.05.2014
• EAN: 9783319077512
• ISBN: 978-3-31-907751-2
• No. of pages: 117
• Dimensions: 163 mm x 244 mm x 13 mm
• Weight: 315 g
• Illustrations: XIII, 117 p. 62 illus., 59 illus. in color.
• Series: Springer Theses; Springer Theses
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Physics, astronomy > Miscellaneous; Laser, B, Lasers, Nanotechnology, Physics and Astronomy, Nanoscale Science and Technology, Nanostructures, Nanoscale science, Nanophysics, Nanoscience, Optical physics, Photonics, Applied optics, Optics, Lasers, Photonics, Optical Devices, Particle & high-energy physics, Accelerator Physics, Particle acceleration, Particle Acceleration and Detection, Beam Physics, Plasma Physics, Plasma (Ionized gases)