With the development of chirped pulse amplification technology, laser intensity has reached more than 10^18 W/cm^2, and pulse duration can even be compressed to femtosecond scale. Plasma-based particle acceleration driven by such intense short laser pulses is a promising way to obtain energetic charged particles and high-brightness radiation, which have shown broad application prospects in fusion ignition, laboratory astrophysics, biomedicine, diagnosis of ultrafast dynamics, and so on. However, their quality and generation efficiency still need to be significantly enhanced for most practical applications. Using micro-structured plasma targets (referring to targets with structures having microscale dimensions, for example, micro-structured grating, sphere, wire, and channel targets) has been an effective approach to improving the acceleration and radiation qualities. As the involved physical process between the laser and the micro-structured target is rich and complicated, related research is urgently needed.
This Research Topic aims to explore effective methods to achieve quality improvement and efficiency optimization of laser-accelerated particle beams and secondary radiation sources through novel designs of micro-structured plasma targets. Important research contents towards this goal include:
1. Characteristics and dynamics of nonlinear interaction between ultraintense short laser pulses and micro-structured plasma targets.
2. Mechanisms of efficient laser-plasma energy coupling using micro-structured targets.
3. Generation of high-quality electron, positron and ion beams, as well as secondary radiation sources from micro-structured plasma targets.
4. Design optimization of shape, size and composition of micro-structured plasma targets to control spatial and spectral distributions of charged particle beams and radiations.
5. Effects of laser contrast and strong-field quantum electrodynamics on ultraintense laser-driven particle acceleration and radiation from micro-structured plasma targets.
In this Research Topic, high-quality Original Research and Review articles are welcome. Themes include but are not limited to:
1. Generation of high-quality electron beams with high charge.
2. Efficient laser-driven ion acceleration and pulsed neutron source.
3. Directional high-order harmonic generation and tunable terahertz radiation.
4. Generation of bright X/gamma-rays and dense positrons.
With the development of chirped pulse amplification technology, laser intensity has reached more than 10^18 W/cm^2, and pulse duration can even be compressed to femtosecond scale. Plasma-based particle acceleration driven by such intense short laser pulses is a promising way to obtain energetic charged particles and high-brightness radiation, which have shown broad application prospects in fusion ignition, laboratory astrophysics, biomedicine, diagnosis of ultrafast dynamics, and so on. However, their quality and generation efficiency still need to be significantly enhanced for most practical applications. Using micro-structured plasma targets (referring to targets with structures having microscale dimensions, for example, micro-structured grating, sphere, wire, and channel targets) has been an effective approach to improving the acceleration and radiation qualities. As the involved physical process between the laser and the micro-structured target is rich and complicated, related research is urgently needed.
This Research Topic aims to explore effective methods to achieve quality improvement and efficiency optimization of laser-accelerated particle beams and secondary radiation sources through novel designs of micro-structured plasma targets. Important research contents towards this goal include:
1. Characteristics and dynamics of nonlinear interaction between ultraintense short laser pulses and micro-structured plasma targets.
2. Mechanisms of efficient laser-plasma energy coupling using micro-structured targets.
3. Generation of high-quality electron, positron and ion beams, as well as secondary radiation sources from micro-structured plasma targets.
4. Design optimization of shape, size and composition of micro-structured plasma targets to control spatial and spectral distributions of charged particle beams and radiations.
5. Effects of laser contrast and strong-field quantum electrodynamics on ultraintense laser-driven particle acceleration and radiation from micro-structured plasma targets.
In this Research Topic, high-quality Original Research and Review articles are welcome. Themes include but are not limited to:
1. Generation of high-quality electron beams with high charge.
2. Efficient laser-driven ion acceleration and pulsed neutron source.
3. Directional high-order harmonic generation and tunable terahertz radiation.
4. Generation of bright X/gamma-rays and dense positrons.
