Relativistic electron heating in laser-produced plasmas

Abstract

Two-dimensional multi-timescale fully electromagnetic relativistic particle simulation is used to investigate relativistic electron heating in laser-produced plasmas. When laser pulses with peak intensities 1019 W cm−2 and different durations (e.g. 118 fs and 442 fs) are incident on overdense plasma slabs with step-like density profiles, the dynamics of plasmas and Fourier frequency spectra from our particle simulations demonstrate distinctly different properties in hot-electron temperatures, absorption, relativistic electron heating, and so on. The particular motions of the critical surfaces are discussed. From the two examples simulated in this paper, it is concluded that the interactions between plasmas and laser pulses with the same intensities and different durations are dominated by different mechanisms, which can lead to dissimilar dynamics of plasmas, relativistic heating, and so on.