Plasma scale-length effects on electron energy spectra in high-irradiance laser plasmas.

Culfa, O; Tallents, G J; Rossall, A K; Wagenaars, E; Ridgers, C P; Murphy, C D; Dance, R J; Gray, R J et al. · Phys Rev E · 2016

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

An analysis of an electron spectrometer used to characterize fast electrons generated by ultraintense (10^{20}Wcm^{-2}) laser interaction with a preformed plasma of scale length measured by shadowgraphy is presented. The effects of fringing magnetic fields on the electron spectral measurements and the accuracy of density scale-length measurements are evaluated. 2D EPOCH PIC code simulations are found to be in agreement with measurements of the electron energy spectra showing that laser filamentation in plasma preformed by a prepulse is important with longer plasma scale lengths (>8 μm).