This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 10241, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction (if any), and Conference Committee listing.

Large laser systems that deliver optical pulses with peak powers exceeding one Petawatt (PW) have been constructed at dozens of research facilities worldwide and have fostered research in High-Energy-Density (HED) Science, High-Field and nonlinear physics [1]. Furthermore, the high intensities exceeding 10¹⁸W/cm² allow for efficiently driving secondary sources that inherit some of the properties of the laser pulse, e.g. pulse duration, spatial and/or divergence characteristics. In the intervening decades since that first PW laser, single-shot proof-of-principle experiments have been successful in demonstrating new high-intensity laser-matter interactions and subsequent secondary particle and photon sources. These secondary sources include generation and acceleration of charged-particle (electron, proton, ion) and neutron beams, and x-ray and gamma-ray sources, generation of radioisotopes for positron emission tomography (PET), targeted cancer therapy, medical imaging, and the transmutation of radioactive waste [2, 3]. Each of these promising applications requires lasers with peak power of hundreds of terawatt (TW) to petawatt (PW) and with average power of tens to hundreds of kW to achieve the required secondary source flux.

The major research equipment of the Attosecond Light Pulse Source of the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI-ALPS) are driven by laser pulses of few cycle duration operating in the 100 W average power regime. The peak power and the repetition rate span from 1 TW at 100 kHz up to PW at 10 Hz. The systems are designed for stable and reliable operation, yet to deliver pulses with unique parameters, especially with unmatched fluxes and extreme bandwidths. This exceptional performance will enable the generation of secondary sources with exceptional characteristics, including light sources ranging from the THz to the X-ray spectral ranges, and particle sources. The experimental activities in the building complex to be inaugurated early 2017 will start with the installation of the two 100 kHz repetition rate, CEP stabilized lasers in May 2017. The MIR laser produces 0.15mJ, shorter than 4-optical-cylce pulses tunable between 2.5-3.9 µm. The first stage of the HR laser will provide pulses around 1 µm with 1 mJ energy and pulse duration less than 6.2 fs. The systems will be optically synchronized to each other with a temporal jitter below 1 fs. Along with the installation of the lasers, we will also start the assembly of the high harmonic beamlines and the THz laboratory, as well as nanoplasmonic experiments. The XUV bursts of light with attosecond duration are expected to be generated by the end of 2017.

Simulations of laser matter interaction at extreme intensities that have predictive power are nowadays in reach when considering codes that make optimum use of high performance compute architectures. Nevertheless, this is mostly true for very specific settings where model parameters are very well known from experiment and the underlying plasma dynamics is governed by Maxwell's equations solely. When including atomic effects, prepulse influences, radiation reaction and other physical phenomena things look different. Not only is it harder to evaluate the sensitivity of the simulation result on the variation of the various model parameters but numerical models are less well tested and their combination can lead to subtle side effects that influence the simulation outcome. We propose to make optimum use of future compute hardware to compute statistical and systematic errors rather than just find the mots optimum set of parameters fitting an experiment. This requires to include experimental uncertainties which is a challenge to current state of the art techniques. Moreover, it demands better comparison to experiments as inclusion of simulating the diagnostic's response becomes important. We strongly advocate the use of open standards for finding interoperability between codes for comparison studies, building complete tool chains for simulating laser matter experiments from start to end.

A new generation laser system at ELI beamlines will provide a 10 PW peak power in a 150 fs laser pulse. This opens new possibilities for experiments on laser-electron scattering at extreme intensities. High energy photons (x-rays or gamma-rays) are produced through nonlinear Compton scattering, and they subsequently decay into electron-positron pairs. The pair yield depends on several factors: the electron beam energy, the laser intensity and the duration of the interaction. Prevous studies focused mostly on the short lasers (~ 30 fs). However, using a longer laser pulse (~ 150 fs) can be an advantage, because it increases the effective interaction time and can deliver a higher number of pairs. A powerful tool that supports theoretical studies of laser-matter interactions and helps design of experiments are particle-in-cell (PIC) codes. PIC code OSIRIS has an additional Quantum electrodynamics (QED) module that includes discrete photon emission (non-linear Compton scattering) and Breit-Wheeler electron-positron pair production, as well as macroparticle merging that allows to control the total number of particles in the simulation. In this work, OSIRIS is deployed to model the interaction of short and long lasers of extreme intensities (I>10^22) with electron beams obtained from a laser wakefield accelerator. Measurable experimental signatures are discussed, the number of electron-positron pairs and the overall quality of the newly produced beam.

Various different classical models of electrons including their spin degree of freedom are commonly applied to describe the coupled dynamics of relativistic electron motion and spin precession in strong electromagnetic fields. The spin dynamics is usually governed by the Thomas-Bargmann-Michel-Telegdi equation [1, 2] in these models, while the electron’s orbital motion follows the (modified) Lorentz force and a spin-dependent Stern-Gerlach force. Various classical models can lead to different or even contradicting predictions how the spin degree of freedom modifies the electron’s orbital motion when the electron moves in strong electromagnetic fields. This discrepancy is rooted in the model-specific energy dependency of the spin induced relativistic Stern-Gerlach force acting on the electron. The Frenkel model [3, 4] and the classical Foldy-Wouthuysen model 5 are compared exemplarily against each other and against the quantum mechanical Dirac equation in order to identify parameter regimes where these classical models make different predictions [6, 7]. Our theoretical results allow for experimental tests of these models. In the setup of the longitudinal Stern-Gerlach effect, the Frenkel model and classical Foldy-Wouthuysen model lead in the relativistic limit to qualitatively different spin effects on the electron trajectory. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that in tightly focused beams in the near infrared the effect of the Stern-Gerlach force of the Frenkel model becomes sufficiently large to be potentially detectable in an experiment. Among the classical spin models, the Frenkel model is certainly prominent for its long history and its wide application. Our results, however, suggest that the classical Foldy-Wouthuysen model is superior as it is qualitatively in better agreement with the quantum mechanical Dirac equation. In ultra strong laser setups at parameter regimes where effects of the Stern-Gerlach force become relevant also radiation reaction effects are expected to set in. We incorporate radiation reaction classically via the Landau-Lifshitz equation and demonstrate that although radiation reaction effects can have a significant effect on the electron trajectory, the Frenkel model and the classical Foldy-Wouthuysen model remain distinguishable also if radiation reaction effects are taken into account. Our calculations are also suitable to verify the Landau-Lifshitz equation for the radiation reaction of electrons and other spin one-half particles. 1. Thomas, L. H., “I. The kinematics of an electron with an axis,” The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 3(13), 1–22 (1927). 2. Bargmann, V., Michel, L., and Telegdi, V. L., “Precession of the polarization of particles moving in a homogeneous electromagnetic field,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 2(10), 435–436 (1959). 3. Frenkel, J., “Die Elektrodynamik des rotierenden Elektrons,” Z. Phys. 37(4–5), 243–262 (1926). 4. Frenkel, J., “Spinning electrons,” Nature (London) 117(2949), 653–654 (1926). 5. Silenko, A. J., “Foldy-Wouthyusen transformation and semiclassical limit for relativistic particles in strong external fields,” Phys. Rev. A 77(1), 012116 (2008). 6. Wen, M., Bauke, H., and Keitel, C. H., “Identifying the Stern-Gerlach force of classical electron dynamics,” Sci. Rep. 6, 31624 (2016). 7. Wen, M., Keitel, C. H., and Bauke, H., “Spin one-half particles in strong electromagnetic fields: spin effects and radiation reaction,” arXiv:1610.08951 (2016).

This presentation was recorded at the "SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics" conference held 24-27 April 2017 in Prague, Czech Republic.

HELL is the high energy electron beamline under development at ELI-Beamlines, which is expected to produce GeV electrons at high repetition rate. The aim of HELL is dual: to improve the performances of the laser electron accelerator, and to deliver stable beams for external users. In this work, we present the recent developments towards the delivery of stable and calibrated beams for external users. The design of the HELL User Station will be presented and discussed along with simulations and experimental data collected in different facilities.

This Conference Presentation, “Starting up European XFEL,” was recorded at SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics 2017 held in Prague, Czech Republic.

Overview of progress in construction and testing of the laser systems of ELI-Beamlines, accomplished since 2015, is presented. Good progress has been achieved in construction of all four lasers based largely on the technology of diode-pumped solid state lasers (DPSSL). The first part of the L1 laser, designed to provide 200 mJ <15 fs pulses at 1 kHz repetition rate, is up and running. The L2 is a development line employing a 10 J / 10 Hz cryogenic gas-cooled pump laser which has recently been equipped with an advanced cryogenic engine. Operation of the L3-HAPLS system, using a gas-cooled DPSSL pump laser and a Ti:sapphire broadband amplifier, was recently demonstrated at 16 J / 28 fs, at 3.33 Hz rep rate. Finally, the 5 Hz OPCPA front end of the L4 kJ laser is up running and amplification in the Nd:glass large-aperture power amplifiers was demonstrated.

We report on the J-KAREN-P laser facility at QST, which can provide PW peak power at 0.1 Hz on target. The system can deliver short pulses with an energy of 30 J and pulse duration of 30 fs after compression with a contrast level of better than 10¹². Such performance in high field science will give rise to the birth of new applications and breakthroughs, which include relativistic particle acceleration, bright x-ray source generation, and nuclear activation. The current achieved laser intensity on target is up to > 9x10²¹ Wcm-2 with an energy of ~9 J on target. The interaction with a 3 to 5- μm stainless steel tape target provides us electrons with a typical temperature of more than 10 MeV and energetic proton beams with typical maximum energies of > 40 MeV with good reproducibility. The protons are accelerated in the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration regime, which is suitable for many applications including as an injector into a beamline for medical use, which is one of our objectives.

Spatio-temporal couplings (STC) of laser beams are ubiquitous in ultrafast optics. In the femtosecond range, chirped-pulse amplification (CPA), the key technology of amplified ultrashort pulses, relies on the use of massive STCs induced at different locations in laser systems (for instance by gratings or prisms), which should all eventually perfectly cancel out at the laser output. Residual STCs, for example resulting from imperfect compensation, decrease the peak intensity at focus by increasing both the focal spot size and the pulse duration. This is particularly detrimental for ultrahigh-intensity (UHI) lasers, which aim for the highest possible peak intensities. However, it is precisely with these lasers that such uncontrolled defects are most likely to occur, due to the complexity of these systems and the large diameters of the output beams. Accurately measuring STCs is thus essential in ultrafast optics. Significant progress has been made in the last decade, and several techniques are now available for the partial or complete spatiotemporal characterization of near-visible femtosecond laser beams. However, none of these has yet been applied to UHI femtosecond lasers, due to the difficulty of handling these large and powerful beams. As a result, all UHI lasers are currently characterized under the unjustified and unverified assumption of the absence of STCs, using separate measurements in space and time. This situation is now becoming a major bottleneck for the development of UHI lasers and their applications. In particular, the optimal and reliable operation of PW-class lasers now available or under construction all around the world will simply not be possible without a proper spatiotemporal metrology. In this talk, we present the first complete spatiotemporal experimental reconstruction of the field E(t,r) for a 100 TW peak-power laser, obtained using self-referenced spatially-resolved Fourier transform spectroscopy [1,2], and thus reveal the spatiotemporal distortions that can affect such beams [3]. This new measurement capability opens the way to in-depth characterization and optimization of ultra-intense lasers and ultimately to the advanced control of relativistic motion of matter with femtosecond laser beams structured in space–time.

We report on the status of the high repetition rate, high energy, L1 laser beamline at the ELI-Beamlines facility. The beamline is based on picosecond optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) of pulses from a mode-locked Ti:Sapphire oscillator and has a target energy/repetition rate of 100 mJ/1 kHz with < 15fs pulse duration. The OPCPA pump lasers use thin disk technology to achieve the high energy and average power required to pump such a high energy, high repetition rate broadband amplifier. Here we report on the progress in beamline development and discuss the technical challenges involved in producing such a system and their solutions. A major focus of the laser development is reliable, robust operation and long term stability; mechanical, optical, and control system architecture design considerations to achieve our goals of long term stability are discussed.

An investigation of the effects of the radiation reaction force on radiation pressure acceleration is presented. Through 1D(3V) PIC code simulations, it is found that radiation reaction causes a decrease in the target velocity during the interaction of an ultra-intense laser pulse with a solid density thin foil of varying thickness. This change in the target velocity can be related to the loss of backwards-directed electrons due to cooling and reflection in the laser field. The loss of this electron population changes the distribution of the emitted synchrotron radiation. We demonstrate that it is the emission of radiation which leads to the observed decrease in target velocity. Through a modification to the light sail equation of motion (which is used to describe radiation pressure acceleration in thin foils), which accounts for the conversion of laser energy to synchrotron radiation, we can describe this change in target velocity. This model can be tested in future experiments with ultra-high intensity lasers, and will lead to a better understanding of the process of relativistically induced transparency in the new intensity regime.

Electron vortices appear in the wake of a finite length laser pulse propogating in the underdense plasma. Usually they form two chains of vortices with opposite signs of the magnetic fields locked inside an electron cavity. Using 2D PIC simulations, we discuss the effects of evolution of single and binary electron vortices. Single electron vortices, though being in a quasistationary state on electron timescales, evolve on ion timescales, leading to anisotropic multishell ion motion. Binary electron vortices may be subject to complex motions, which can be described by the point-vortex solutions of Hasegawa-Mima equation. When the finite radius effects come into play, we observe effects as magnetic field annihilation with the subsequent fast electron bunch generation and secondary vortex formation.

With the advent of 10 PW laser facilities, new regimes of laser-matter interaction are opening since effects of quantum electrodynamics, such as electron-positron pair production and cascade development, start to be important. The dynamics of light charged particles, such as electrons and positrons, is affected by the radiation reaction force. This effect can strongly influence the interaction of intense laser pulses with matter since it lowers the energy of emitting particles and transforms their energy to the gamma radiation. Consequently, electron-positron pairs can be generated via Breit-Wheeler process. To study this new regime of interaction, numerical simulations are required. With their help it is possible to predict and study quantum effects which may occur in future experiments at modern laser facilities.

In this work we present results of electron interaction with an intense standing wave formed by two colliding laser pulses. Due to the necessity to achieve ultra intense laser field, the laser beam has to be focused to a ~μm-diameter spot. Since the paraxial approximation is not valid for tight focusing, the appropriate model describing the tightly focused laser beam has to be employed. In tightly focused laser beam the longitudinal component of the electromagnetic field becomes significant and together with the ponderomotive force they affect the dynamics of interacting electrons and also newly generated Breit-Wheeler electron-positron pairs. Using the Particle-In-Cell code we study electron dynamics, gamma radiation and pair production in such a configuration for linear polarization and different types of targets.

The nuclear reaction of hydrogen (protons) with the boron isotope 11 (HB11) is aneutronic avoiding the production of dangerous neutrons in contrast to any other fusion but it is extremely difficult at thermal equilibrium plasma conditions. There are alternative schemes without thermal equilibrium, e.g. the Tri Alpha reversed magnetic field (RMF) confinement and others, however, the only historical first measurements of HB11 fusion were with lasers interacting with high density plasmas using non-thermal direct conversion of laser energy into ultrahigh acceleration of plasma blocks to avoid the thermal problems. Combining these long studied mechanisms with recently measured ultrahigh magnetic fields for trapping the reacting plasma arrives at a very compact design of an environmentally clean reactor for profitable low cost energy using present technologies.

We demonstrate the feasibility of generation of bright ultrashort gamma-ray pulses and the signatures of stochastic photon emission via the interaction of a relativistic electron bunch with a counterpropagating tightly-focused superstrong laser beam in the quantum-radiation-dominated regime. We consider the electron-laser interaction at near-reflection conditions when pronounced high-energy gamma-ray bursts arise in the backward-emission direction with respect to the initial motion of the electrons. The Compton scattering spectra of gamma-radiation are investigated using a semiclassical description for the electron dynamics in the laser field and a quantum electrodynamical description for the photon emission. We demonstrate the feasibility of ultrashort gamma-ray bursts of hundreds of attoseconds and of dozens of megaelectronvolt photon energies in the near-backwards direction of the initial electron motion. The tightly focused laser field structure and radiation reaction are shown to be responsible for such short gamma-ray bursts, which are independent of the durations of the electron bunch and of the laser pulse. Moreover, the quantum stochastic nature of the gamma-photon emission is exhibited in the angular distributions of the radiation and explained in an intuitive picture. Although, the visibility of the stochasticity signatures depends on the laser and electron beam parameters, the signatures are of a qualitative nature and robust. The stochasticity, a fundamental quantum property of photon emission, should thus be measurable rather straightforwardly with laser technology available in near future.

nteraction of high-intensity laser pulses with solid state targets results in generation of intense pulses of secondary particles via electromagnetic interaction : electrons, ions, hard x-rays. The beams of these particles can be used to produce various types of third-generation particles, beyond electromagnetic also other types of fundamental interactions can be involved in this process [1]. As the most interesting tertiary particles could be mentioned positrons, neutron, muons. This paper shall extend our previous analysis of this topic [2]: it discusses selected technical problems of design and realization of applicable sources of these particles and presents some more elaborated proposals for potential meaningful / hopefuly realistic exploitations of this technology. (1)Tertiary Sources (TS) : First Development Steps. This part of the presentation includes the topics as follows: (11) Pulsed positron sources: Verified solutions of laser-driven positron sources [3] [4] [5], development towards applicable facilities. Some unconventional concepts of application of lasers for positron production [6]. Techniques for realization of low/very-low energy positrons. (12) Taylored neutron sources [7]: Neutron sources with demanded space distribution, strongly beamed and isotropic solutions [8] [9]. Neutron generation with taylored energy distribution. Problem of the direct production of neutrons with very low energy [10] [11]. (13) Potential muon sources: Proof-of-principle laser experiment on electron / photon driven muon production [12] [13]. Study of the possibility of effective generation of surface muons. Problems of the production of muons with very low energy. (2) Fundamental & Applied Physics with TS: This part of the talk presents the themes: (21) Diagnostic potential of TS: Lepton emission as a signature of processes in extreme systems. Passive and active diagnostics using positrons, problems of detection and evaluation. Potential diagnostic applications of muons. Concrete application study: muon tomography. (22) Antilepton gravity studies [14]: Possibility of antimattter gravity research using positronium and muonium [15] [16]. Lepton / antilepton gravity studiesactive with relativistic particle beams [17]. First-phase practical application : positron production for filling (commertial) particle traps, development base for multiple microtrap systems. (23) Hidden world searching [18] : Potential laser-based production / detection of selected dark mattter particles - axions, hidden photons [19] [20]. Search for hidden particles in nuclear decay processes [21]. Potential application output: intense positronium source. Conclusion: The extensive feasibility study confirms the potential of ELI to contribute to the solution of Grand Challenge Problems of physics. Laser-produced tertiary particles will play important role in this effort. : References [1] L.Drska et al.: Physics of Extreme Systems. Course ATHENS CTU18, Prague 12 – 19 Nov., 2016. http://vega.fjfi.cvut.cz/docs/athens2016/ [2] L.Drska : Lepton Diagnostics and Antimatter Physics. In: SPIE Optics+Optoelectronics, Prague, April 13 – 16, 2015 . [3] H. Chen et al.: Scaling the Yield of Laser-Driven Electron-Positron Jets to Laboratory Astrophysics Applications. Rep. LLNL-JRNL-665381, Dec. 11, 2014. [4] E Liang et al.: High e+ / e- Ratio Dense Pair Creation with 1022 W.cm-2 Laser Irradiating Solid Targets. Scientific Reports, Sept. 14, 2015. www.nature.com/scientificreports [5] G. Sarri et al.: Spectral and Spatial Characterization of Laser-driven Positron Beams. Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 59 (2017) 014015. [6] B. Schoch: A Method to Produce Intense Positron Beams via Electro Pair Production on Electrons. arXiv:1607.03847v1 [physics.acc-ph] [7] I. Pomerantz: Laser Generation of Neutrons: Science and Applications. In: ELI-NP Summer School, Magurele, Sept. 21 – 25, 2015. http://www.eli-np.ro/2015-summer-school/presentations/23.09/Pomerantz_Eli-NP-Summer-school-2015.pdf [8] V.P. Kovalev: Secondary Radiation of Electron Accelerators (in Russian). Atomizdat 1969. [9] M. Lebois et al.: Development of a Kinematically Focused Neutron Source with p(Li7,n)Be7 Inverse Reaction. Nucl. Instr. Meth. Phys. Res. A 735 (2014), 145. [10] D. Habs et al.: Neutron Halo Isomers in Stable Nuclei and their Possible Application for the Production of Low Energy, Pulsed, Polarized Neutron Beams of High Intensity and High Brilliance. Appl. Phys B103 (2011),485. [11] T. Masuda et al.: A New Method of Creating High/Intensity Neutron Source. arXiv:1604.02818v1[nucl-ex] [12] A.I. Titov et al.: Dimuon Production by Laser-wakefield Accelerated Electrons. Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 12 (2009) 111301. [13] W. Dreesen et al.: Detection of Petawatt Laser-Induced Muon Source for Rapid High-Gamma Material Detection. DOE/NV/25946-2262. [14] F. Castelli: Positronium and Fundamental Physics: What Next ? In: What Next, Florence 2015. [15] G. Dufour et al. : Prospects for Studies of the Free Fall and Gravitation Quantum States of Antimatter. Advances in High Energy Physics 2015 (2015) 379642. [16] D.M. Kaplan et al.. Antimatter Gravity with Muonium. IIT-CAPP-16-1. arXiv:1601.07222v2 [physics.ins-det] [17] T. Kalaydzhyan: Gravitational Mass of Positron from LEP Synchrotron Losses. arXiv:1508.04377v3 [hep-ph] [18] J. Alexander et al.: Dark Sector 2016 Workshop: Community Report. arXiv:1608.08632[hep-ph] [19] M.A. Wahud et al.: Axion-like Particle Production in a Laser-Induced Dynamical Spacertime. arXiv:1612.07743v1 [hep-ph] [20] V. Kozhuharov et al: New Projects on Dark Photon Search. arXiv:1610.04389v1 [hep-ex] [21] A.J. Krasznahorkay et al.: Observation of Anomalous Internal Pair Creation in Be8: A Possible Signature of a Light, Neutral Boson. arXiv:1504.01527v1 [nucl-ex]

This presentation was recorded at the "SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics" conference held 24-27 April 2017 in Prague, Czech Republic.

Starting from first principles the physics of radiation reaction for strong laser fields interacting with electrons and positrons is revisited. With the help of a Wigner formulation of QED a derivation of a system of molecular dynamical (MD) equations of motion with a new radiation reaction term and spin is given. The new equations obtained are delay equations which promise to be void of the problems encountered with the LAD theory.

For several decades the capillary discharges have been under intensive investigations due to various promising applications, e.g. for the laser electron accelerators as well as for the X-ray lasers [1,2]. A major portion of the experiments were done with circular cross-section capillaries. An appropriate theoretical and numerical study of circular capillaries can be greatly simplified to a 1D model [3] assuming rotational and axial symmetries of the plasma flow in a long thin channel. On the other hand, studying capillaries with non-circular cross-section [4], which have been attracting substantially less attention, requires more complicated 2D models. Such capillaries, for example, square one, possess several advantages related to their fabrication as well as for plasma diagnostics The aim of our work is to compare the plasma density and temperature distributions formed at the quasistationary stage of the discharge. We present the results of MHD simulations of hydrogen-filled capillary discharges with circular and rectangular cross-sections under almost the same conditions characterizing the initial configurations and the external electric circuit. The simulation parameters are choosen to correspond to the capillary discharge based waveguide for the laser wakefield accelerator [5]. Bibliography [1] Leemans W. P. et al 2014 Phys. Rev. Lett. 113 245002 [2] Benware B. R. et al 1998 Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 5804 [3] Bobrova N. A. et al 2001 Phys. Rev. E 65 016407 [4] Gonsalves A. J. et al 2007 Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 025002 [5] Esarey E. et al 2009 Rev. Mod. Phys. 81 1229

The radiation pressure of next generation high-intensity lasers could efficiently accelerate ions to GeV energies. However, nonlinear quantum-electrodynamic effects play an important role in the interaction of these lasers with matter. We show that these quantum-electrodynamic effects lead to the production of a critical density pair-plasma which completely absorbs the laser pulse and consequently reduces the accelerated ion energy and efficiency by 30-50%.

Ionization of positive ions by relativistically-intense short laser pulses is analyzed in the framework of relativistic strong-field theory. We observe the appearance of broad interference-free patterns in the high-energy portion of the photoelectron spectra, which extend over hundreds of driving photon energies. These structures can be controlled by changing parameters of the driving laser field. As we also demonstrate, the electrons comprising these broad structures can form pulses of attosecond duration. While we present the fully numerical results for laser field intensities below 10²⁰W=cm², we also introduce the saddle point approximation to treat photoionization at larger intensities. In addition, the conditions enabling generation of ultrashort electron pulses are studied.

In this contribution, we discuss the optimization of laser driven proton acceleration efficiency by nanostructured targets, interpret the experimental results showing the manipulation of proton beam profiles by nanosctructured rear surface of the targets and investigate the acceleration of protons from hydrogen solid ribbon by PW-class lasers, with the help of multidimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Microstructured hollow targets are proposed to enhance the absorption of the laser pulse energy while keeping the target thickness to minimum, which is both favorable for enhanced efficiency of the acceleration of protons. Thin targets with grating structures of various configurations on their rear sides stretch the proton beams in the perpendicular direction to the grating orientation due to transverse electric fields generated inside the target grooves and can reduce the proton beam divergence in the parallel direction to the grating due to a lower density of the stretched beam compared with flat foils. Finally, it is shown that when multiPW laser pulse interacts with hydrogen solid ribbon, hole boring radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) dominates over the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA).

Numerical investigations on high energy proton beam interaction with high density Boron plasma allows to simulate conditions concerning the alpha production from recent experimental measurements . The experiments measure the alpha production due to p¹¹B nuclear fusion reactions when a laser-driven high energy proton beam interacts with Boron plasma produced by laser beam interaction with solid Boron. The alpha production and consequently the efficiency of the process depends on the initial proton beam energy, proton beam density, the Boron plasma density and temperature, and their temporal evolution. The main advantage for the p¹¹B nuclear fusion reaction is the production of three alphas with total energy of 8.9 MeV, which could enhance the alpha heating effect and improve the alpha production. This particular effect is termed in the international literature as the alpha avalanche effect. Numerical results using a multi-fluid, global particle and energy balance, code shows the alpha production efficiency as a function of the initial energy of the proton beam, the Boron plasma density, the initial Boron plasma temperature and the temporal evolution of the plasma parameters. The simulations enable us to determine the interaction conditions (proton beam – B plasma) for which the alpha heating effect becomes important.

This work is dedicated to the multiparametric numerical simulations of the dynamics of electron vortices - one of the coherent structures that can form due to the interaction of high-intensity laser pulses with plasmas. Using a two-dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulations it is demonstrated that the postsoliton stage of the evolution of the electron vortex is described well by the ”snow plow” model. The dependence between the parameters of the vortex and the characteristic time of the vortex boundary disintegration is absorbed.