Transport of kJ-laser-driven relativistic electron beams in cold and shock-heated vitreous carbon and diamond. (23rd March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bailly-Grandvaux, M; Kim, J; Krauland, C M; Zhang, S; Dozières, M; Wei, M S; Theobald, W; Grabowski, P E; Santos, J J; Nicolaï, Ph; McKenna, P; Desjarlais, M P; Beg, F N
• Is Part Of: New journal of physics. Volume 22:Number 3(2020:Mar.)
• Publication Date: 2020-03-23
• Subjects: relativistic electron beam transport -- warm dense matter -- fast ignition -- thermonuclear fusion -- shocked carbon -- plasma conductivity of carbon allotropes -- self-generated magnetic fields; Physics -- Periodicals; Physics; Periodicals; 530.05
• DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/ab7a06
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1367-2630

Abstract

Abstract: We report experimental results on relativistic electron beam (REB) transport in a set of cold and shock-heated carbon samples using the high-intensity kilojoule-class OMEGA EP laser. The REB energy distribution and transport were diagnosed using an electron spectrometer and x-ray fluorescence measurements from a Cu tracer buried at the rear side of the samples. The measured rear REB density shows brighter and narrower signals when the targets were shock-heated. Hybrid PIC simulations using advanced resistivity models in the target warm-dense-matter (WDM) conditions confirm this observation. We show that the resistivity response of the media, which governs the self-generated resistive fields, is of paramount importance to understand and correctly predict the REB transport.