Investigation on laser–plasma coupling in intense, ultrashort irradiation of a nanostructured silicon target

Abstract

One of the most interesting research fields in laser–matter interaction studies is the investigation of effects and mechanisms produced by nano- or micro-structured targets, mainly devoted to the enhancing of laser–target or laser–plasma coupling. In intense and ultra-intense laser interaction regimes, the observed enhancement of x-ray plasma emission and/or hot electron conversion efficiency is explained by a variety of mechanisms depending on the dimensions and shape of the structures irradiated. In the present work, the attention is mainly focused on the lowering of the plasma formation threshold which is induced by the larger absorptivity.