Particle-In-Cell Simulations Of Density Peak Formation And Ion Heating From Short Pulse Laser-Driven Ponderomotive Steepening

We use two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations and simple analytic models to investigate the laser-plasma interaction known as ponderomotive steepening. When normally incident laser light reflects at the critical surface of a plasma, the resulting standing electromagnetic wave modifies the electron density profile via the ponderomotive force, which creates peaks in the electron density separated by approximately half of the laser wavelength. What is less well studied is how this charge imbalance accelerates ions toward the electron density peaks, modifying the ion density profile of the plasma. Idealized PIC simulations with an extended underdense plasma shelf are used to isolate the dynamics of ion density peak growth for a 42 fs pulse from an 800nm laser with an intensity of 10(18) W cm(-2). These simulations exhibit sustained longitudinal electric fields of 200GV m(-1), which produce countersteaming populations of ions reaching a few kilo-electron-volt in energy. We compare these simulations to theoretical models, and we explore how ion energy depends on factors such as the plasma density and the laser wavelength, pulse duration, and intensity. We also provide relations for the strength of longitudinal electric fields and an approximate time scale for the density peaks to develop. These conclusions may be useful for investigating the phenomenon of ponderomotive steepening as advances in laser technology allow shorter and more intense pulses to be produced at various wavelengths. We also discuss the parallels with other work studying the interference from two counterpropagating laser pulses. (C) 2019 Author(s).