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Dense, strongly coupled plasmas in femtosecond laser-matter interactions

University of British Columbia

The development of laser systems capable of delivering laser pulses lasting merely hundreds of femtoseconds, yet having peak intensities exceeding 10[superscript 15]W/cm², has opened new avenues for laboratory studies of the equation of state and transport properties of hot, dense, plasmas in the strongly coupled regime. As the new experiments began to yield data, there arose a need for new methods to interpret their results and to design new experiments. This thesis addresses such needs through numerical modelling of femtosecond laser-matter interactions. Moreover, this thesis shows how numerical modelling is not only indispensable for modelling most femtosecond laser-matter experiments but also a guide to bring greater depth and breadth to our understanding of femtosecond laser-matter interactions. Finally, as the continued development of laser technology may reduce the durations of intense laser pulses to tens of femtoseconds, a new class of experiments offering the possibility of measuring the transport and equation of state properties of extremely well-defined, solid-density, strongly coupled plasmas can be realized.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-05-29

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/8494

Physics

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace