Supervisor: Kate Lancaster (University of York)
Ultra-intense laser interactions with matter give us a route to produce some of the most extreme conditions on earth. When these lasers are focused onto solid material, the electric fields associated with the laser are so strong that the atoms in the material become readily ionised to create plasma. These intense lasers only penetrate a short distance into the material that they are striking, limiting the amount of energy that can be readily absorbed. Mega-Amp currents, which can be highly divergent, are driven into the target and these electrons transport energy deeper into the material. This project, using state of the art targetry, will investigate schemes to control electron divergence (especially on high repetition rate systems) and increase laser absorption to ultimately produce hot, dense matter. The balance between these objectives will be driven by laser time awarded, student interest and capabilities, and success of experiments.
The potential impact of this work is broad and exciting. This work is of direct use and will be immediately applicable in the context of fast ignition, a potentially high-gain ICF approach. These advanced high gain ICF schemes are necessary to realise IFE (Inertial fusion energy) beyond the very exciting National Ignition Facility (NIF) ignition results.
This work also has industrial applications. The creation of bright x-ray sources from these techniques will be useful for non-destructive testing of materials for industrial applications. The target technology that is enabling the science in this project (the result of an earlier collaboration between Scitech precision Ltd and York) is also enabling the production of targets for the development of laser driven ion acceleration for proton oncology, the manufacture of medical devices, and also devices used in the Diamond Light Source facility beamlines.
This PhD would offer you the opportunities for both experimental and simulation work, and to carry out experiments in the UK, Italy, USA, and other European locations. You will have exciting and broad ranging opportunities which will well train you for a life both in academia and industry.
This project would be mainly based at York. It will offer you the opportunities for both experimental and simulation work, and to carry out experiments in the UK, Italy, USA, and other European locations. Experiments are usually several weeks at a time.
This project is offered by University of York. For further information please contact: Kate Lancaster (kate.lancaster@york.ac.uk)