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Projects: Projects for Region Projects in Northern Ireland involving Queen's University Belfast: EP/M014746/1
Reference Number	EP/M014746/1
Title	Impact of relativistic transparency on high intensity laser matter interactions
Status	Completed
Energy Categories	Nuclear Fission and Fusion(Nuclear Fusion) 50%; Not Energy Related 50%;
Research Types	Basic and strategic applied research 100%
Science and Technology Fields	PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Physics) 100%
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation	Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator	Dr D Jung No email address given Mathematics & Physics Queen's University Belfast
Award Type	Standard
Funding Source	EPSRC
Start Date	01 February 2015
End Date	31 July 2016
Duration	18 months
Total Grant Value	£98,923
Industrial Sectors	Energy
Region	Northern Ireland
Programme	NC : Physical Sciences
Investigators	Principal Investigator	Dr D Jung , Mathematics & Physics, Queen's University Belfast (100.000%)
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract	Summary of research for a general audience:Since the first realization of a Laser over half a century ago, the science of laser-matter interaction has developed into one of the largest and most exciting research areas. When laser light is focused to a spot with diameter of only a few microns - that is less than one tenth of the width of a human hair - intensities exceeding 10^20 W/cm^2 can be reached. To achieve that, a single laser delivers the power equivalent to one million million laser pointer for a tiny fraction of a second (several fs, or 10^-15s). Matter irradiated with this intensity instantly turns into an extremely hot plasma.In these plasmas, most electrons have been ripped apart from their atoms (which are now negatively charged ions) by the laser light and been accelerated to relativistic velocities very close to the speed of light. Under these conditions many interesting phenomena arise with exciting application possibilities. One of them is the acceleration of ions to energies suitable for ion fast ignition (a variant of the conventional ignition concept pursued at the national ignition facility) or for the hadron cancer therapy, where tumours are destroyed by bombardment with energetic ions.Currently, the energies of such laser-accelerated ions and the efficiency are not sufficient for most of these applications and researchers all over the globe are investigating novel techniques and methods to realize these applications.In the proposed research we focus on the laser interaction with nanometer-scaled targets (one thousands of the width of a human hair). In these interactions plasmas are created that turn relativistically transparent to the laser light. This special case of transparency arises due to the relativistic mass increase of the electrons when they reach velocities close to the speed of light. This allows the laser light to interact with a large and very dense plasma volume, which significantly increases the transfer of laser light into electrons, creating very energetic ions. The research aims at understanding the complex interplay between specific laser light and target properties to control the dynamics that lead to a relativistic transparent laser plasma interaction. The exploitation of these dynamics will allows us to increase the efficiency and energy of laser-driven ions to levels suitable for advanced applications in medicine (cancer therapy) and energy generation (ion fast ignition).
Publications	(none)
Final Report	(none)
Added to Database	11/12/14