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Laser-produced plasmas are plasmas produced by firing high-intensity beams of light. Laser-produced plasmas have been used to create short bursts of x-rays and to accelerate particles — so-called plasma-based accelerators. Laser produced plasmas are also useful for recreating astrophysical plasmas in the laboratory.
Researchers propose a laser pulse compression method for exawatt to zettawatt lasers based on spatially varying dispersion of an inhomogeneous plasma. This may enable, for example, pulse compression of a laser pulse from 2.35 ps to 10.3 fs. The approach is robust at high intensities.
Particles in space can be accelerated to high energy, the distribution of which follows a power law. This has now been reproduced in laboratory experiments mimicking astrophysical scenarios, which helps to understand the underlying mechanisms.
Ignition of a millimetre-sized pellet containing a mix of deuterium–tritium, published in 2022, puts to rest questions about the capability of lasers to ignite thermonuclear fuel.
In a burning plasma, fusion-born α particles are the dominant source of heating. In such conditions, the deuterium and tritium ion energy distribution deviates from the expected thermal Maxwellian distribution.
Prof. Xi-Cheng Zhang, as a pioneer in the field of terahertz technology, has successfully generated terahertz waves using water, changing how we see water with THz wave forever.
