We study intense laser-matter interactions through computational approaches.
I. Relativistic laser-plasma interactions
Key words: ultraintense laser; relativistic plasma; radiation sources; particle-in-cell simulations.
An interdisciplinary field involving relativistic nonlinear optics and plasma physics.
Focus on laser-plasma based novel radiation sources, i.e., extreme photonics, including high harmonic generation (HHG) / attosecond pulse(s), brilliant x-ray & γ-ray, high-field terahertz (THz), EMP, etc.
With interest in other related topics: laser plasma accelerators (electrons, ions, positrons, neutrons..), laboratory astrophysics, ultrafast and high-field phenomena, high energy density physics.
荣获2018年诺贝尔物理学奖的啁啾脉冲放大(CPA)技术,使得超短超强激光能在实验室创造出前所未有的超高能量密度、超强电磁场和超快时间尺度等综合极端物理条件。当前最前沿的激光功率可达10拍瓦(1拍瓦=1015瓦)量级,经聚焦后在单位时间、单位空间内的能量密度可达1023瓦/平方厘米以上,不仅妥妥的地表最强,甚至还超过了宇宙中伽马射线暴的强度。在如此极端光场下,光与物质(几乎所有的物质都已被电离成等离子体)相互作用蕴含大量丰富有趣的物理,还可能带来许多实际应用,比如带电粒子可以在很短距离内被加速到很高能量,能以不同机制辐射出超短超亮电磁波,还能产生显著的辐射阻尼、正负电子对产生和湮灭等量子电动力学效应。超短超强激光的飞速发展开辟了激光聚变、激光加速、新型辐射源、核物理与核医学、实验室天体物理等新兴前沿领域,并且还在不断地往(功率)更高、(脉宽)更快、(光强)更强推进。我们的研究工作包括但不限于基于相对论强度激光(功率密度大于1018瓦/平方厘米)与等离子体相互作用的新型辐射光源的产生和应用,涉及高次谐波和阿秒脉冲(高亮度相干极紫外/软X射线阿秒光源)、高亮度X射线和γ光源、强场太赫兹辐射、射频微波电磁脉冲等。
招生信息:本研究方向招收硕、博士研究生。招生专业:等离子体物理。研究方向:激光等离子体物理。
We are always looking for motivated undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars to join our team!
Relevant publications:
- Zi-Yu Chen* and Ronghao Hu*, Sen Zhang, and Tingfei Yuan, Relativistic high-order harmonic generation of spatiotemporal optical vortices, Physical Review A 106, 013516 (2022).
- Zi-Yu Chen* and Ronghao Hu*, Intense high-order harmonic vector beams from relativistic plasma mirrors, Physical Review A 103, 023507 (2021).
- Zi-Yu Chen, Spectral control of high harmonics from relativistic plasmas using bicircular fields, Physical Review E 97, 043202 (2018).
- Zi-Yu Chen* and Alexander Pukhov*, Bright high-order harmonic generation with controllable polarization from a relativistic plasma mirror, Nature Communications 7, 12515 (2016).
- Zi-Yu Chen*, Mykyta Cherednychek, and Alexander Pukhov*, Wavebreaking-associated transmitted emission of attosecond extreme-ultraviolet pulses from laser-driven overdense plasmas, New Journal of Physics 18, 063014 (2016).
II. Strong-field laser-solids interactions
Using first-principles simulations based on the framework of real-time time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT), we study:
- Non-perturbative high harmonic generation in the condensed phase;
- Ultrafast dynamics and nonlinear behavior of carriers under strong-field excitation in novel material systems.
These studies are relevant to applications such as novel compact short-wavelength light sources, attosecond photonics, nanophotonics, strong-feild optoelectronics, petahertz electronics, spectroscopy with attosecond-nanometer resolution, etc.
Relevant publications:
- Zi-Yu Chen#* and Rui Qin#*, High harmonic generation in graphene-boron nitride heterostructures, Journal of Materials Chemistry C 8, 12085 (2020).
- Zi-Yu Chen* and Rui Qin*, Probing structural chirality of crystals using high-order harmonic generation in solids, Physical Review A 101, 053423 (2020).
- Zi-Yu Chen#* and Rui Qin#*, Strong-field nonlinear optical properties of monolayer black phosphorus, Nanoscale 11, 16377 (2019).
- Zi-Yu Chen* and Rui Qin*, Circularly polarized extreme ultraviolet high harmonic generation in graphene, Optics Express 27, 3761 (2019).
- Rui Qin#* and Zi-Yu Chen#*, Strain-controlled high harmonic generation with Dirac fermions in silicene, Nanoscale 10, 22593 (2018).