Picosecond laser filament-guided electrical discharges in air at 1 kHz repetition rate.

Laser-induced filaments have been shown to reduce the voltage necessary to initiate electrical discharges in atmospheric air and guide their propagation over long distances. Here we demonstrate the stable generation of laser filament-guided electrical discharge columns in air initiated by high energy (up to 250 mJ) 1030 nm wavelength laser pulses of 7 ps duration at repetition rates up to 1 kHz and we discuss the processes leading to breakdown. A current proportional to the laser pulse energy is observed to arise as soon as the laser pulse arrives, initiating a high impedance phase of the discharge.

Ion acceleration from microstructured targets irradiated by high-intensity picosecond laser pulses.

Structures on the front surface of thin foil targets for laser-driven ion acceleration have been proposed to increase the ion source maximum energy and conversion efficiency. While structures have been shown to significantly boost the proton acceleration from pulses of moderate-energy fluence, their performance on tightly focused and high-energy lasers remains unclear. Here, we report the results of laser-driven three-dimensional (3D)-printed microtube targets, focusing on their efficacy for ion acceleration.

Design of a compact device to generate and test beams with orbital angular momentum in the EUV: erratum.

This erratum includes a relevant additional reference for the article Appl. Opt.56, 8048 (2017)APOPAI0003-693510.

Design of a compact device to generate and test beams with orbital angular momentum in the EUV.

We present a compact design to generate and test optical-vortex beams with possible applications in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The device consists of a diffractive mask where both the beam with orbital angular momentum and the reference wavefront to test its phase are generated. In order to show that the proposal would work in the EUV, simulations and proof-of-principle experiments were performed, using typical parameters for EUV holography scaled to visible wavelengths.

Energy penetration into arrays of aligned nanowires irradiated with relativistic intensities: Scaling to terabar pressures.

Ultrahigh-energy density (UHED) matter, characterized by energy densities >1 × 10 J cm and pressures greater than a gigabar, is encountered in the center of stars and inertial confinement fusion capsules driven by the world's largest lasers. Similar conditions can be obtained with compact, ultrahigh contrast, femtosecond lasers focused to relativistic intensities onto targets composed of aligned nanowire arrays. We report the measurement of the key physical process in determining the energy density deposited in high-aspect-ratio nanowire array plasmas: the energy penetration.