Parametric investigation of laser interaction with uniform and nanostructured near-critical plasmas

Laser interaction with uniform and nanostructured near-critical plasmas has been investigated by means of 2D particle-in-cell simulations. The effect of a nanostructure (modeled as a collection of solid-density nanospheres) on energy absorption and radiative losses has been assessed in a wide range of laser intensities (normalized amplitude a 0 = 1 − 135) and average densities of the target (electron density n e = 1 − 9 n c , where n c is the critical electron density). The nanostructure was found to affect mainly the conversion efficiency of laser energy into ion kinetic energy and radiative losses for the highest simulated intensities.