Electron heating and radiation in high aspect ratio sub-micron plasma generated by an ultrafast Bessel pulse within a solid dielectric

TL;DR

This paper investigates how ultrafast Bessel laser pulses generate high aspect-ratio plasma structures in dielectrics, leading to electron heating, acceleration, and radiation emission, using particle-in-cell simulations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of electron heating and radiation in high aspect-ratio plasma rods created by ultrafast Bessel pulses, a novel insight into laser-plasma interactions in dielectrics.

Findings

Electrons are heated and accelerated up to keV energies.

Electron acceleration occurs via transit acceleration near the critical surface.

The radiation pattern of accelerated electrons is characterized.

Abstract

When propagating inside dielectrics, an ultrafast Bessel beam creates a high aspect-ratio cylinder of plasma with nanometric diameter that extends over several tens of micrometers to centimeters. We analyze the interaction between the intense ultrafast laser pulse and the plasma rod using particle-in-cell simulations. We show that electrons are heated and accelerated up to keV energies via transit acceleration inside the resonance lobes in the vicinity of the critical surface and compute their radiation pattern.