The 6th International Conference on Matter and Radiation at Extremes (ICMRE2023)

184 / 2023-04-15 15:20:00

Theoretical and simulation study on focusing and guiding of intense laser pulse using periodic slits

Intense laser; Slits; Focusing enhancement; laser guiding;

It has been recently demonstrated that slits can be developed as plasma optical components to generate high harmonic light^[1] and control laser-driven ion beams^[2]. Here, we investigate the diffraction focusing enhancement and the long-range guidance of the intense laser by interacting with a single slit and an array of periodic slits, respectively. The relativistic intense laser undergoes a dynamic focusing process during the interaction with slits: with the spatial and temporal evolution of slits, the focusing mechanism of the intense laser gradually changes from diffractive focusing to plasma lens focusing, enabling the significant focusing gain in suitable slit parameters. Moreover, we investigate the potential use of an array of periodic slits to effectively guide the intense laser for collimated transmission over long distances, which is conducive to the vacuum acceleration of electrons and the generation of high-brightness radiation.