NSF-BSF: Creating and Studying Plasma Structures for Extreme Optics

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this effort is to develop methods to compress and manipulate laser pulses to reach unprecedented intensities. Such new capability will enable access to new regimes of high-energy density science, including studies of materials under extreme conditions that exist in stars and planetary interiors. The constraints on laser intensity arise because conventional optical components are damaged or destroyed when exposed to high intensity lasers. This research will investigate how these limits can be overcome when conventional optical elements are replaced with plasma structures. At a fundamental level, the project investigates the control of nonlinear systems with large numbers of interacting components as a theme that runs through many branches of physics and is one of the greatest challenges in modern science. This research is also expected to have a significant impact on optical science by allowing for new regimes of optical manipulation of intense laser pulses and may lead to new ideas for inertial fusion and plasma-based ion accelerators. Unlike conventional structures, where an electric field triggers changes in structure behavior, plasma can be sculpted using light manipulation techniques to create novel, robust, optical elements on nanosecond timescales. Within this broad area of inquiry, the research supported by this award will focus on generating Bragg reflectors by manipulating ion acoustic waves. Theoretical research will examine structure dynamics and their utility for intense pulse compression. Such structures may be stationary or moving. The United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation will support closely coupled collaborative experimental and theoretical research on the autoresonant excitation of large amplitude ion acoustic waves that serve as the backbone of the proposed structures. Ideas that have been theoretically studied and experimentally tested on a small scale at the Hebrew University laboratory may be investigated on a larger experimental set-up at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This wave excitation study will involve state-of-the art research on the control of nonlinear collective systems within the context of both multi-dimensional and multi-wave effects. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.