Exotic dense-matter states pumped by a relativistic laser plasma in the radiation-dominated regime

J Colgan; J Abdallah Jr; A Ya Faenov; S A Pikuz; E Wagenaars; N Booth; O Culfa; R J Dance; R G Evans; R J Gray; T Kaempfer; K L Lancaster; P McKenna; A L Rossall; I Yu Skobelev; K S Schulze; I Uschmann; A G Zhidkov; N C Woolsey

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.125001

Exotic dense-matter states pumped by a relativistic laser plasma in the radiation-dominated regime

Phys Rev Lett. 2013 Mar 22;110(12):125001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.125001. Epub 2013 Mar 18.

Authors

J Colgan¹, J Abdallah Jr¹, A Ya Faenov², S A Pikuz³, E Wagenaars⁴, N Booth⁵, O Culfa⁴, R J Dance⁴, R G Evans⁶, R J Gray⁷, T Kaempfer⁸, K L Lancaster⁵, P McKenna⁷, A L Rossall⁴, I Yu Skobelev³, K S Schulze⁸, I Uschmann⁹, A G Zhidkov¹⁰, N C Woolsey⁴

Affiliations

¹ Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
² Joint Institute for High Temperatures, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 125412, Russia and Quantum Beam Science Directorate, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Kizugawa, Kyoto 619-0215, Japan.
³ Joint Institute for High Temperatures, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 125412, Russia.
⁴ York Plasma Institute, Department of Physics, University of York, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom.
⁵ Central Laser Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, United Kingdom.
⁶ Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
⁷ SUPA, Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 ONG, United Kingdom.
⁸ Helmholtzinstitut Jena, Fröbelstieg 1, D-07743 Jena, Germany.
⁹ Helmholtzinstitut Jena, Fröbelstieg 1, D-07743 Jena, Germany and Institut für Optik und Quantenelektronic, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Max-Wien Platz 1, D-07743 Jena, Germany.
¹⁰ PPC Osaka University and JST, CREST, 2-1, Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.

PMID: 25166812
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.125001

Abstract

In high-spectral resolution experiments with the petawatt Vulcan laser, strong x-ray radiation of KK hollow atoms (atoms without n = 1 electrons) from thin Al foils was observed at pulse intensities of 3 × 10(20) W/cm(2). The observations of spectra from these exotic states of matter are supported by detailed kinetics calculations, and are consistent with a picture in which an intense polychromatic x-ray field, formed from Thomson scattering and bremsstrahlung in the electrostatic fields at the target surface, drives the KK hollow atom production. We estimate that this x-ray field has an intensity of >5 × 10(18) W/cm(2) and is in the 3 keV range.