Laser–plasma interaction and hot electrons have been characterized in detail in laser irradiation conditions relevant for direct-drive inertial confinement fusion. The experiment was carried out at the Gekko XII laser facility in multibeam planar target geometry at an intensity of approximately $3\times {10}^{15}$ W/cm2. Experimental data suggest that high-energy electrons, with temperatures of 20–50 keV and conversion efficiencies of $\eta <1\%$, were mainly produced by the damping of electron plasma waves driven by two-plasmon decay (TPD). Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is observed in a near-threshold growth regime, producing a reflectivity of approximately $0.01\%$, and is well described by an analytical model accounting for the convective growth in independent speckles. The experiment reveals that both TPD and SRS are collectively driven by multiple beams, resulting in a more vigorous growth than that driven by single-beam laser intensity.

We report results and modelling of an experiment performed at the Target Area West Vulcan laser facility, aimed at investigating laser–plasma interaction in conditions that are of interest for the shock ignition scheme in inertial confinement fusion (ICF), that is, laser intensity higher than ${10}^{16}$ $\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{cm}}^2$ impinging on a hot ($T>1$ keV), inhomogeneous and long scalelength pre-formed plasma. Measurements show a significant stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) backscattering ($\sim 4\%{-}20\%$ of laser energy) driven at low plasma densities and no signatures of two-plasmon decay (TPD)/SRS driven at the quarter critical density region. Results are satisfactorily reproduced by an analytical model accounting for the convective SRS growth in independent laser speckles, in conditions where the reflectivity is dominated by the contribution from the most intense speckles, where SRS becomes saturated. Analytical and kinetic simulations well reproduce the onset of SRS at low plasma densities in a regime strongly affected by non-linear Landau damping and by filamentation of the most intense laser speckles. The absence of TPD/SRS at higher densities is explained by pump depletion and plasma smoothing driven by filamentation. The prevalence of laser coupling in the low-density profile justifies the low temperature measured for hot electrons ($7\!{-}\!12$ keV), which is well reproduced by numerical simulations.

This paper provides a summary of recent research connected with the shock ignition (SI) concept of the inertial confinement fusion which was carried out at PALS. In the experiments, Cu planar targets coated with a thin CH layer were used. Two-beam irradiation experiment was applied to investigate the effect of preliminary produced plasma to shock-wave generation. The 1ω or 3ω main beam with a high intensity >1015 W/cm2 generates shock wave, while the other 1ω beam with the intensity below 1014 W/cm2 creates CH pre-plasma simulating the pre-compressed plasma related to SI. Influence of laser wavelength on absorbed energy transfer to shock wave was studied by means of femtosecond interferometry and measuring the crater volume. To characterize the hot electron and ion emission, two-dimensional (2D) Kα-imaging of Cu plasma and grid collector measurements were used. In single 1ω beam experiments energy transport by fast electrons produced by resonant absorption made a significant contribution to shock-wave pressure. However, two-beam experiments with 1ω main beam show that the pre-plasma is strongly degrading the scalelength which leads to decreasing the fast electron energy contribution to shock pressure. In both the single 3ω beam experiments and the two-beam experiments with the 3ω main beam, do not show any clear influence of fast electron transport on shock-wave pressure. The non-monotonic behavior of the scalelength at changing the laser beam focal radius in both presence and absence of pre-plasma reflects the competition of plasma motion and electron heat conduction under the conditions of one-dimensional and 2D plasma expansion at large and small focal radii, respectively.

The paper is a continuation of research carried out at Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS) related to the shock ignition (SI) approach in inertial fusion, which was carried out with use of 1ω main laser beam as the main beam generating a shock wave. Two-layer targets were used, consisting of Cu massive planar target coated with a thin polyethylene layer, which, in the case of two-beam irradiation geometry, simulate conditions related to the SI scenario. The investigations presented in this paper are related to the use of 3ω to create ablation pressure for high-power shock wave generation. The interferometric studies of the ablative plasma expansion, complemented by measurements of crater volumes and Kα emission, clearly demonstrate the effect of changing the incident laser intensity due to changing the focal radius on efficiency of laser energy transfer to a shock wave and fast electron emission. The efficiency of the energy transfer increases with the radius of the focused laser beam. The pre-plasma does not significantly change the character of this effect. However, it unambiguously results in the increasing temperature of fast electrons, the total energy of which remains very small (<0.1% of the laser energy). This study shows that the optimal radius from the point of view of 3ω radiation energy transfer to the shock wave is the maximal one used in these experiments and equal to 200 µm that corresponds to the minimal effect of two-dimensional (2D)-expansion. Such a result is typical for the ablation process determined by electron conductivity energy transfer under the conditions of one-dimensional or 2D matter expansion without any appreciable effect due to energy transfer by fast electrons. The 2D simulations based on application of the ALANT-HE code and an analytical model that includes generation and transport of hot electrons has been used to support of experimental data.

The effect of laser intensity on characteristics of the plasma ablated from a low-Z (CH) planar target irradiated by a 250 ps, 0.438 µm laser pulse with the intensity of up to 1016 W/cm2 as well as on parameters of the laser-driven shock generated in the target for various scale-lengths of preformed plasma was investigated at the kilojoule Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS) laser facility. Characteristics of the plasma were measured with the use of 3-frame interferometry, ion diagnostics, an X-ray spectrometer, and Kα imaging. Parameters of the shock generated in a Cl doped CH target by the intense 3ω laser pulse were inferred by numerical hydrodynamic simulations from the measurements of craters produced by the shock in the massive Cu target behind the CH layer. It was found that the pressure of the shock generated in the plastic layer is relatively weakly influenced by the preplasma (the pressure drop due to the preplasma presence is ~10–20%) and at the pulse intensity of ~1016 W/cm2 the maximum pressure reaches ~80–90 Mbar. However, an increase in pressure of the shock with the laser intensity is slower than predicted by theory for a planar shock and the maximum pressure achieved in the experiment is by a factor of ~2 lower than predicted by the theory. Both at the preplasma absence and presence, the laser-to-hot electrons energy conversion efficiency is small, ~1% or below, and the influence of hot electrons on the generated shock is expected to be weak.

We report on an experimental study on the interaction of a high-contrast 40 fs duration 2 TW laser pulse with an argon-cluster target. A high-charge, homogeneous, large divergence electron beam with moderate kinetic energy (~2 MeV) is observed in the forward direction. The results show that an electron beam with a charge as high as 12 nC can be obtained using a table-top laser system. It was demonstrated that the accelerated electron beam is suitable for a variety of applications such as micro-radiography of thin samples in a wide field of view. It can also be applied for in vitro dosimetry studies.

We use deep nIR imaging of 15 galaxy clusters at z ≃ 1 to study the build-up of the red-sequence in rich clusters since the Universe was half its present age. We measured, for the first time, the luminous-to-faint ratio of red-sequence galaxies at z=1 from a large ensemble of clusters, and found an increase of 100% in the ratio of luminous-to-faint red-sequence galaxies from z=0.45 to 1.0. The measured change in this ratio as function of redshift is well-reproduced by a simple evolutionary model developed in this work, that consists in an early truncation of the star formation for bright cluster galaxies and a delayed truncation for faint cluster galaxies.

The ion implantation steps used in fabricating field effect transistors in ultrathin (6 to 30 nm) silicon-on-insulator (UTSOI) substrates present many challenges. Deep source/drain (S/D) implants in UTSOI layers are a particular concern, since it can be difficult to implant the desired dose without amorphizing the entire SOI thickness. In a first study, we investigated the effect of implant temperature (20 to 300 °C) on the sheet resistance (Rs) of 28 nm thick SOI layers implanted with As+ at an energy of 50 keV and a dose of 3 × 1015 /cm2, and found Rs values after activation sharply lower for samples implanted at the highest temperature. In a second study, on 8 nm thick SOI layers implanted with As+ at an energy of 0.75 keV and doses in the range 0.5 to 2 × 1015/cm2, the benefits of the elevated implantation temperature were less clear. Explanations for these effects, supported by microscopy, medium energy ion scattering (MEIS), and optical reflectance data, will be discussed.

We report and discuss experimental results on the propagation of CPA pulses of moderately relativistic intensity in gas: they evidence the effects of the precursor pedestals of the main pulse. Details of great interest were observed for the first time with high quality femtosecond 90-degree interferometry. The interferometric data are also correlated with imaging and spectroscopy data of laser pulse transmitted through the gas. The most relevant physical features are confirmed by a numerical code which simulates the laser pulse propagation self-consistently with the ionization of the gas. We found that in this regime, the propagation of the intense femtosecond pulse is basically stable apart from very weak refractive effects. In order to allow propagation at fixed intensity along an optical path larger than the Rayleigh range, we performed a first successful attempt at producing hollow plasma channels able to guide the pulse.

The differential imaging technique is particularly suitable for the detection of small concentrations of contrasts agents for biological and medical applications in samples using X-ray radiography. In this paper, we present an application of this technique using a laser-plasma soft X-ray source combined with a bent crystal. Using a Fresnel plate as a test object, we were able to obtain spatial resolutions of the order of a few tens of microns. The use of our configuration to perform differential imaging of a test-sample at the L2 edge of Br at 1,596 eV is finally demonstrated.