Csaba Toth (BELLA Center, ATAP, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory):

Csaba Toth (BELLA Center, ATAP, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory):
22/11

22. November 2018. 15:00 - 16:00

ELTE Lágymányos Campus, Northern Building, 0.81 (Ortvay lecture hall)

11/22

2018. November 22. 15:00 - 16:00

ELTE Lágymányos Campus, Northern Building, 0.81 (Ortvay lecture hall)


Particle Acceleration in Strongly Excited Plasmas

Abstract: A new approach to accelerate particles to multi-GeV energies in short distances by the extremely strong local gradients achievable in plasmas via laser excitation become the topic of intensive experimental and theoretical research worldwide. The Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator and its PW peak-power drive laser is uniquely dedicated to laser plasma acceleration (LPA) research. The ‘BELLA-PW’ is a Chirped Pulse Amplification laser system (a.k.a. CPA, – see Noble Prize in Physics - 2018), and it is used for studying laser-plasma interactions occurring at extreme high laser intensities.  The peak intensity of the focused femtosecond laser beam reaches the relativistic photon-electron interaction regime (beyond 1018 W/cm2), allowing electron acceleration experiments involving gas-jets and capillary discharges as primary plasma sources. Thin foil target studies aim to improve the properties of ion beams produced by high-field laser-solid interactions. In addition to the latest results, emerging applications of this new method of particle acceleration will also be discussed.


About the lecturer: