Effect of inner-surface roughness of conical target on laser absorption and fast electron generation

The effect of inner-surface roughness of conical targets on the generation of fast electrons in the laser—cone interaction is investigated using particle-in-cell simulation. It is found that the surface roughness can reduce the fast-electron number (in the energy range E > 1 MeV) and energy, as compared to that from a cone with smooth inner wall. A scaling law for the laser reflectivity based on the vacuum-heating model is derived. Both theory and simulation indicate that laser reflection increases with the height-to-width ratio of the periodic inner surface structure and approaches that of a smooth cone as this ratio becomes zero.