Electron Acceleration by Relativistic Surface Plasmons in Laser-Grating Interaction

L. Fedeli, A. Sgattoni, G. Cantono, D. Garzella, F. Réau, I. Prencipe, M. Passoni, M. Raynaud, M. Květoň, J. Proska, A. Macchi, and T. Ceccotti
Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 015001 – Published 7 January 2016
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Abstract

The generation of energetic electron bunches by the interaction of a short, ultraintense (I>1019W/cm2) laser pulse with “grating” targets has been investigated in a regime of ultrahigh pulse-to-prepulse contrast (1012). For incidence angles close to the resonant condition for surface plasmon excitation, a strong electron emission was observed within a narrow cone along the target surface, with energy spectra peaking at 5–8 MeV and total charge of 100  pC. Both the energy and the number of emitted electrons were strongly enhanced with respect to simple flat targets. The experimental data are closely reproduced by three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, which provide evidence for the generation of relativistic surface plasmons and for their role in driving the acceleration process. Besides the possible applications of the scheme as a compact, ultrashort source of MeV electrons, these results are a step forward in the development of high-field plasmonics.

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  • Received 30 June 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.015001

© 2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Plasma Physics

Authors & Affiliations

L. Fedeli1,2,*, A. Sgattoni2, G. Cantono3,4,1,2, D. Garzella3, F. Réau3, I. Prencipe5,†, M. Passoni5, M. Raynaud6, M. Květoň7, J. Proska7, A. Macchi2,1, and T. Ceccotti3

  • 1Enrico Fermi Department of Physics, University of Pisa, 56127 Pisa, Italy
  • 2National Institute of Optics, National Research Council (CNR/INO), u.o.s Adriano Gozzini, 56124 Pisa, Italy
  • 3LIDYL, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
  • 4University of Paris Sud, Orsay 91405, France
  • 5Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, Milan 20156, Italy
  • 6Laboratoire des Solides irradiés, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA/DSM/IRAMIS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France
  • 7FNSPE, Czech Technical University, Prague 11519, Czech Republic

  • *luca.fedeli@for.unipi.it
  • Present address: Institute of Radiation Physics, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, 01328 Dresden, Germany.

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Issue

Vol. 116, Iss. 1 — 8 January 2016

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