Laser-Driven Ultrafast Field Propagation on Solid Surfaces
- 14 May 2009
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 102 (19), 194801
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.102.194801
Abstract
The interaction of a laser pulse with a metallic wire has been investigated using proton radiography. The pulse is observed to drive the propagation of a highly transient field along the wire at the speed of light. Within a temporal window of 20 ps, the current driven by this field rises to its peak magnitude before decaying to below measurable levels. Supported by particle-in-cell simulation results and simple theoretical reasoning, the transient field measured is interpreted as a charge-neutralizing disturbance propagated away from the interaction region as a result of the permanent loss of a small fraction of the laser-accelerated hot electron population to vacuum.
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