2016/01/28 by J. Vieira, R. M. G. M. Trines, E. P. Alves +7 · 196 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Acceleration #Atomic physics #Attosecond #Computational physics #Laser #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #Nuclear physics #Optical physics #Optics #Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics #Physics #Plasma #Quantum mechanics #Raman scattering #Raman spectroscopy #Ultrashort pulse #physics.optics #physics.plasm-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/ncomms10371
published in Nature Communications 7(1), 10371 (Nature Portfolio) · 18 pages, 4 figures, 1 table
openalex publication_date 2016/01/28 · arxiv created 2016/03/09 · arxiv updated 2016/03/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Twisted Laguerre-Gaussian lasers, with orbital angular momentum and characterized by doughnut-shaped intensity profiles, provide a transformative set of tools and research directions in a growing range of fields and applications, from super-resolution microcopy and ultra-fast optical communications to quantum computing and astrophysics. The impact of twisted light is widening as recent numerical calculations provided solutions to long-standing challenges in plasma-based acceleration by allowing for high-gradient positron acceleration. The production of ultra-high-intensity twisted laser pulses could then also have a broad influence on relativistic laser-matter interactions. Here we show theoretically and with ab initio three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that stimulated Raman backscattering can generate and amplify twisted lasers to petawatt intensities in plasmas. This work may open new research directions in nonlinear optics and high-energy-density science, compact plasma-based accelerators and light sources.