Enhancing Bremsstrahlung Production From Ultraintense Laser-Solid Interactions With Front Surface Structures

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that tower-structured targets in ultraintense laser-solid interactions significantly enhance Bremsstrahlung radiation's energy and directionality, promising improved gamma-ray sources for various applications.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel target design with tower structures that markedly increases the energy and collimation of Bremsstrahlung radiation in laser-solid interactions.

Findings

Enhanced electron energy with tower targets.

Significant narrowing of electron angular distribution.

Increased gamma-ray brightness at high energies.

Abstract

We report the results of a combined study of particle-in-cell and Monte Carlo modeling that investigates the production of Bremsstrahlung radiation produced when an ultraintense laser interacts with a tower-structured target. These targets are found to significantly narrow the electron angular distribution as well as produce significantly higher energies. These features combine to create a significant enhancement in directionality and energy of the Bremstrahlung radiation produced by a high-Z converter target. These studies employ short-pulse, high intensity laser pulses, and indicate that novel target design has potential to greatly enhance the yield and narrow the directionality of high energy electrons and $\gamma$-rays. We find that the peak $\gamma$-ray brightness for this source is 6.0$\times$10$^{19}$ ${\rm s^{-1}mm^{-2}mrad^{-2}}$ at 10MeV and 1.4$\times$10$^{19}$ ${\rm s^{-1}mm^{-2}mrad^{-2}}$ at 100MeV (0.1$\%$ bandwidth).