面向激光加速的瞬态等离子体微结构实验研究

The rapid development of high-power laser and laser-wakefield accelerator in the past decade has brought revolutionary changes for the application of future accelerators. This progress has created anticipation of realizing a high-quality laser-driven electron accelerator suitable for developing femtosecond x-ray or gamma-ray sources. Plasma nonlinear optics is a crucial approach for controlling laser-plasma interaction in laser-wakefield acceleration. The ability to fabricate gas and/or plasma density structures is the crucial element for attaining fine control on laser-plasma interaction. Since 2005, I have developed an effective method for fabricating spatial transient-density structures in gases and/or plasmas that function as programmable photonic devices in high-field physics to gain fine control on laser-plasma interaction (Phys. Plasmas 12, 070707, 2005；Phys. Plasmas 13, 110701, 2006). By using a programmed periodic plasma structure, quasi-phase matching in relativistic harmonic generation was achieved (Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 033901, 2007). In this project, various features of this technology will be studied and further extended, and used as programmable photonic devices in the development of laser-wakefield acceleration and ultrafast light source generation.

近年来超短超强脉冲激光技术发展迅猛。同时基于此类激光与等离子体相互作用的新型粒子加速器和超快光源在世界范围内也取得了激动人心的进展,有潜力为未来新型加速器和光源技术提供规模小、质量高的电子束流以及各种频段的超短光脉冲。当前在该领域的研究中,产生和精确控制复杂等离子结构的研究十分重要,是提高加速稳定性和改善粒子与其衍生光源质量的关键。2005年项目申请人在国际上首创了通过液晶空间波形调变器产生任意结构等离子体的方法(Phys. Plasmas 12,070707,2005；Phys. Plasmas 13,110701,2006),并成功应用于三次相对论谐波准相位匹配的研究(Phys. Rev. Lett. 98,033901,2007)。本课题计划利用清华大学20TW激光实验平台深入发展基于液晶空间波型调变器的可控等离子体组件技术,并将该技术广泛应用于激光等离子体加速的实验研究。

近年来超短超强脉冲激光技术发展迅猛。同时基于此类激光与等离子体相互作用的新型粒子加速器和超快光源在世界范围内也取得了激动人心的进展,有潜力为未来新型加速器和光源技术提供桌面型、质量高的电子束流以及各种频段的超短光脉冲。本项目成功发展了基于超快激光加工方法，在气体喷嘴实现了可在线编程的等离子结构,为超短超强激光与等离子体相互作用的研究提供了独特的研究平台,是提高加速稳定性和改善粒子与其衍生光源质量的关键技术。本课题利用清华大学30TW激光实验平台深入发展基于液晶空间波型调变器的可控等离子体组件技术,未来该技术将被广泛应用于激光等离子体加速的实验研究。