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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Direct Imaging of Laser-driven Ultrafast Molecular Rotation
Published on: February 4, 2017
Acceleration dynamics of ions in shocks and solitary waves driven by intense laser pulses
Min-Qing He1, Quan-Li Dong, Zheng-Ming Sheng
1Beijing National Laboratory of Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, CAS, Beijing 100080, China.
Abstract:
The acceleration of ions in collisionless electrostatic shocks and solitary waves, driven by ultrashort intense laser pulses in a thin solid target under different conditions, is investigated theoretically. When a shock is formed, ions with certain initial velocities inside the target can be accelerated by the electrostatic field at the shock front to twice the shock speed. When a solitary wave is formed, only ions located at the rear surface of the target can be accelerated by the solitary wave together with the sheath field formed there.
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