Accession Number:
ADA624009
Title:
Laser-Driven Ultra-Relativistic Plasmas - Nuclear Fusion in Coulomb Shock Waves, Rouge Waves, and Background Matter
Descriptive Note:
Final performance rept. 15 Jun 2011-14 Dec 2014
Corporate Author:
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV BALTIMORE MD
Personal Author(s):
Report Date:
2015-05-05
Pagination or Media Count:
19.0
Abstract:
In this grant period this PI developed new research directions and made progress in his fundamental and application research done previously for AFOSR. This PI predicted a new optical effect whereby a media with slow spatial gradient of its characteristics is found to exhibit a universal wave pattern gradient marker in a vicinity of the maximaminima of the gradient it is common for optics, acoustics, and quantum mechanics. Among potential applications of this effect is contour-detection and tracing of large moving submerged objects in the ocean. In his recent review 2, this PI has continued his research in the extreme ultra-short pulses beyond attosecond domain, which he pioneered in his research for AFOSR long ago by proposing the way to generate so called zepto-second pulses. In his paper 3, this PI predicted that an overdense plasma layer irradiated by intense light should exhibit dramatic nonlinear-optical effects due to a relativistic mass-effect of free electrons highly-multiple hysteresises of reflection and transition,and emergence of immobile waves of large amplitude. Those are trapped quasi-solitons in the layer sustained by a weak pumping having a tiny fraction of their peak intensity once they have been excited first by higher power pumping. The phenomenon persists even in the layers with soft boundaries, as well as in a semi-infinite plasma with low absorption. These effects could be used for laser fusion to deposit laser power much deeper into the fusion pallets or for heating the ionosphere layers by a powerful radiation. This PI also continued his study of laser-excited atomic nano-structures, which were predicted by him earlier in collaboration with his post-doc Volkov in the research under AFOSR grant.
Descriptors:
Subject Categories:
- Optics
- Plasma Physics and Magnetohydrodynamics