Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Herzl 234, Rehovot, 7610001, Israel.
Nat Commun. 2023 Jun 6;14(1):3296. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-38937-0.
The high intensities reached today by powerful lasers enable us to explore the interaction with matter in the relativistic regime, unveiling a fertile domain of modern science that is pushing far away the frontiers of plasma physics. In this context, refractive-plasma optics are being utilized in well established wave guiding schemes in laser plasma accelerators. However, their use for spatial phase control of the laser beam has never been successfully implemented, partly due to the complication in manufacturing such optics. We here demonstrate this concept which enables phase manipulation near the focus position, where the intensity is already relativistic. Offering such flexible control, high-intensity high-density interaction is becoming accessible, allowing for example, to produce multiple energetic electron beams with high pointing stability and reproducibility. Cancelling the refractive effect with adaptive mirrors at the far field confirms this concept and furthermore improves the coupling of the laser to the plasma in comparison to the null test case, with potential benefits in dense-target applications.
高强度的强大激光使我们能够探索相对论条件下物质的相互作用，开拓了现代科学的一个肥沃领域，推动了等离子体物理学的前沿发展。在这种情况下，折射等离子体光学在激光等离子体加速器中已经成熟的波导方案中得到了应用。然而，它们在激光光束的空间相位控制中的应用从未成功实施过，部分原因是制造这种光学器件的复杂性。我们在这里展示了这个概念，它可以在强度已经相对论的焦点位置附近进行相位操纵。提供这种灵活的控制，高强度高密度的相互作用变得可以实现，例如，可以产生具有高指向稳定性和可重复性的多个高能电子束。在远场用自适应反射镜消除折射效应证实了这一概念，并进一步改善了与等离子体的激光耦合，与零测试案例相比，在密集目标应用中具有潜在的好处。
