A selection of reports presented at the VIII International Conference on Ultrafast Optical Phenomena UltrafastLight-2024

Gamma-ray source based on laser acceleration of electrons from targets with a low-density plasma layer

A. V. Brantov^a, M. A. Rakitina^a, S. I. Glazyrin^ab, M. G. Lobok<sup>ab

a</sup> P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991, Moscow, Russia
^b The Center for Fundamental and Applied Research, All-Russia Research Institute of Automatics, 127055, Moscow, Russia

Abstract: We report a study of electron beams and gamma radiation generation from targets with a preplasma and from targets with an extended plasma of near-critical density on the irradiated side. It is shown that for a laser pulse with an energy of about 1 J, a uniform layer of critical density makes it possible to generate a significantly larger number of high-energy electrons compared to targets with an exponentially decaying preplasma profile produced by the prepulse. The bremsstrahlung gamma radiation spectra of accelerated electron beams in a converter target are constructed, and the possibility of converting the laser pulse energy into gamma radiation energy (with photon energies above 1 MeV) at a level of 5% is demonstrated.

Keywords: laser acceleration of electrons, compact gamma radiation source, numerical particle-in-cell simulation.

Received: 20.11.2024

 English version: Quantum Electronics, 2024, 51:suppl. 12, S1030–S1036