Radiation in Plasmas and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

You are cordially invited to submit your original research or review papers to this Special Issue on “Radiation in plasmas and applications” in Applied Sciences.

Plasma is a high-density source of charge carriers. As plasma is in a broken-down state of materials but controllable at the same time, very strong fields can be sustained in it, with coherent structures being preserved. This remarkable feature of plasma is what drives research toward plasma-based, powerful radiation sources. In recent decades, there have been significant advances in utilizing plasmas as sources or media for the generation of strong electromagnetic emissions in almost all the scientifically, technologically important spectral ranges: radio, terahertz, optical wavelengths, and photonics of higher energies such as X-rays and gamma-rays. Another great advance has also been made in the field of astro- and space-physics, and more specifically in our understanding of diverse cosmic electromagnetic bursts from plasmas in space. The advent of exawatt-class laser systems enables the study of radiation reaction and the QED realm in plasmas, which expands the boundaries of human knowledge around our universe. 

In this Special Issue, we overview the current status of research on radiation in plasmas and envision the direction we should take to advance the field further.

Some specific topics include:

1) Terahertz emission from laser–plasma interaction: More and more powerful terahertz waves are required in diverse fields of science and technology. Using plasmas for high-power terahertz sources will potentially be extremely beneficial. It is thus pivotal to overview the advantages and disadvantages of plasma-based schemes in comparison to those of other schemes;

2) Raman, Brillouin, and other nonlinear scattering of lasers in plasmas and applications: The damage-free, coherent structure of plasma generated from laser–plasma interaction enables the manipulation of ultra-intense fields, which can be hardly sustained in solid materials. One relatively advanced application is laser amplification via Raman or Brillouin scattering. The generation of transient but robust optical structures in plasmas is interesting and widely applicable.

3) Lab–astro or lab–space physics of cosmic radiation bursts from plasmas: Cosmic bursts of radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray are important not only as scientific subjects but also in terms of their practical applications, e.g., space exploration. The study of radiation in laser-driven plasmas can be a very useful way to confirm the theoretical scenarios of diverse cosmic bursts.

4) X-ray and gamma-ray and other high-energy photons emitted from plasmas: Lots of efforts have been made to find compact sources of high-energy photons that can be alternative or complementary to large-size facilities. Any achievements in this endeavor are welcome.

5) High-field and plasma interactions: Radiation reaction and QED effects in laser-driven plasmas are becoming important as the technology of high-power laser advances toward the exawatt class.

Prof. Dr. Min Sup Hur
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• Terahertz from laser-driven plasmas
• Raman backward amplification
• Betatron radiation
• Laser Wakefield acceleration and radiation
• Beam-driven Langmuir waves and radiation
• Emission from high-power laser and solid interaction
• Emission from warm–dense matters
• Nonlinear scattering of lasers in plasmas and applications
• Cosmic electromagnetic bursts
• Radiation reaction and QED effects in a strong laser–plasma regime…