The advent of ultraintense laser pulses generated by the technique of chirped pulse amplification (CPA) along with the development of high-fluence laser materials has opened up an entirely new field of optics. The electromagnetic field intensities produced by these techniques, in excess of ${10}^{18}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{W}∕{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$, lead to relativistic electron motion in the laser field. The CPA method is reviewed and the future growth of laser technique is discussed, including the prospect of generating the ultimate power of a zettawatt. A number of consequences of relativistic-strength optical fields are surveyed. In contrast to the nonrelativistic regime, these laser fields are capable of moving matter more effectively, including motion in the direction of laser propagation. One of the consequences of this is wakefield generation, a relativistic version of optical rectification, in which longitudinal field effects could be as large as the transverse ones. In addition to this, other effects may occur, including relativistic focusing, relativistic transparency, nonlinear modulation and multiple harmonic generation, and strong coupling to matter and other fields (such as high-frequency radiation). A proper utilization of these phenomena and effects leads to the new technology of relativistic engineering, in which light-matter interactions in the relativistic regime drives the development of laser-driven accelerator science. A number of significant applications are reviewed, including the fast ignition of an inertially confined fusion target by short-pulsed laser energy and potential sources of energetic particles (electrons, protons, other ions, positrons, pions, etc.). The coupling of an intense laser field to matter also has implications for the study of the highest energies in astrophysics, such as ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, with energies in excess of ${10}^{20}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{eV}$. The laser fields can be so intense as to make the accelerating field large enough for general relativistic effects (via the equivalence principle) to be examined in the laboratory. It will also enable one to access the nonlinear regime of quantum electrodynamics, where the effects of radiative damping are no longer negligible. Furthermore, when the fields are close to the Schwinger value, the vacuum can behave like a nonlinear medium in much the same way as ordinary dielectric matter expanded to laser radiation in the early days of laser research.

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Optics in the relativistic regime

http://absimage.aps.org/image/DAMOP12/MWS_DAMOP12-2012-000066.pdf

Optics in the Relativistic Regime

Strong-field effects in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas and high intensity laser and cavity systems are considered, related to quantum electrodynamical (QED) photon-photon scattering. Current state-of-the-art laser facilities are close to reaching energy scales at which laboratory astrophysics will become possible. In such high energy density laboratory astrophysical systems, quantum electrodynamics will play a crucial role in the dynamics of plasmas and indeed the vacuum itself. Developments such as the free-electron laser may also give a means for exploring remote violent events such as supernovae in a laboratory environment. At the same time, superconducting cavities have steadily increased their quality factors, and quantum nondemolition measurements are capable of retrieving information from systems consisting of a few photons. Thus, not only will QED effects such as elastic photon-photon scattering be important in laboratory experiments, it may also be directly measurable in cavity experiments. Here implications of collective interactions between photons and photon-plasma systems are described. An overview of strong field vacuum effects is given, as formulated through the Heisenberg-Euler Lagrangian. Based on the dispersion relation for a single test photon traveling in a slowly varying background electromagnetic field, a set of equations describing the nonlinear propagation of an electromagnetic pulse on a radiation plasma is derived. The stability of the governing equations is discussed, and it is shown using numerical methods that electromagnetic pulses may collapse and split into pulse trains, as well as be trapped in a relativistic electron hole. Effects, such as the generation of novel electromagnetic modes, introduced by QED in pair plasmas is described. Applications to laser-plasma systems and astrophysical environments are also discussed.

Nonlinear collective effects in photon-photon and photon-plasma interactions

Dense quantum plasmas are ubiquitous in planetary interiors and in compact astrophysical objects (e.g., the interior of white dwarf stars, in magnetars, etc.), in semiconductors and micromechanical systems, as well as in the next-generation intense laser–solid density plasma interaction experiments and in quantum X-ray free-electron lasers. In contrast to classical plasmas, quantum plasmas have extremely high plasma number densities and low temperatures. Quantum plasmas are composed of electrons, positrons and holes, which are degenerate. Positrons (holes) have the same (slightly different) mass as electrons, but opposite charge. The degenerate charged particles (electrons, positrons, and holes) obey the Fermi–Dirac statistics. In quantum plasmas, there are new forces associated with (i) quantum statistical electron and positron pressures, (ii) electron and positron tunneling through the Bohm potential, and (iii) electron and positron angular momentum spin. Inclusion of these quantum forces allows the existence of very high-frequency dispersive electrostatic and electromagnetic waves (e.g., in the hard X-ray and gamma-ray regimes) with extremely short wavelengths. In this review paper, we present theoretical backgrounds for some important nonlinear aspects of wave–wave and wave–electron interactions in dense quantum plasmas. Specifically, we focus on nonlinear electrostatic electron and ion plasma waves, novel aspects of three-dimensional quantum electron fluid turbulence, as well as nonlinearly coupled intense electromagnetic waves and localized plasma wave structures. Also discussed are the phase-space kinetic structures and mechanisms that can generate quasistationary magnetic fields in dense quantum plasmas. The influence of the external magnetic field and the electron angular momentum spin on the electromagnetic wave dynamics is discussed. Finally, future perspectives of the nonlinear quantum plasma physics are highlighted.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3367/UFNe.0180.201001b.0055/pdf

Nonlinear aspects of quantum plasma physics

The ion‐acoustic solitons are investigated in three‐component plasmas, whose constituents are electrons, positrons, and singly charged ions. It is found that the presence of the positron component in such a multispecies plasma can result in reduction of the ion‐acoustic soliton amplitudes.

N.N. Rao

Papers

Relativistic nonlinear effects in plasmas