Comparison of the effect of soft-core potentials and Coulombic potentials on bremsstrahlung during laser matter interaction
Abstract
An intense, short laser pulse incident on rare-gas clusters can produce nano-plasmas containing energetic electrons. As these electrons undergo scattering, from both phonons and ions, they emit bremsstrahlung radiation. Here, we compare a theory of bremsstrahlung emission appropriate for the interaction of intense lasers with matter using soft-core potentials and Coulombic potentials. A new scaling for the radiation cross-section and the radiated power via bremsstrahlung is derived for a soft-core potential (which depends on the potential depth) and compared with the Coulomb potential. Calculations using the new scaling are performed for electrons in vacuum ultraviolet, infrared and mid-infrared laser pulses. The radiation cross-section and the radiation power via bremsstrahlung are found to increase rapidly with increases in the potential depth of up to around 200 eV and then become mostly saturated for larger depths while remaining constant for the Coulomb potential. In both cases, the radiation cross-section and the radiation power of bremsstrahlung decrease with increases in the laser wavelength. The ratio of the scattering amplitude for the soft-core potential and that for the Coulombic potential decreases exponentially with an increase in momentum transfer. The bremsstrahlung emission by electrons in plasmas may provide a broadband light source for diagnostics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2018
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.5024380
Entities
People
- Edward Ackad
- Jeremy Thurston
- Kasey Barrington
- Lora Ramunno
- Rishi Pandit
- Valerie R. Becker
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Southern Illinois University
- University of Ottawa