Surface plasmon (SP) excitation in intense laser interaction with solid target can be exploited for enhancing secondary emissions, in particular efficient acceleration of high charge electron bunches. Previous studies have mostly used grating coupling to allow SP excitation, which requires stringent laser contrast conditions to preserve the structural integrity of the target. Here we show via simulations that efficient SP electron acceleration for currently available short pulse lasers can occur in a flat foil irradiated at parallel or grazing incidence ( ∼ 5 ° with the target surface) without a surface modulation. In turn, the accelerated electrons can be effective for generating proton beams with narrow spectra peaked at > 100 MeV energies for currently available laser drivers.

A molecular dynamics code is developed to study the formation of dust crystal and phase transition of a three-dimensional dusty plasma system in the presence of magnetic field. Under the influence of the magnetic field, the interaction potential among the grains gets modified and becomes anisotropic. The pair correlation function has been calculated to characterize the structural properties of the dusty plasma for different values of magnetic field strength. The phase diagram in the $\Gamma \text{-}\kappa$ plane is plotted for the system for different values of magnetic field strength. This diagram shows the existence of three phases: solid (fcc-like), solid (bcc-like), and fluid phases. It is seen that as the value of the magnetic field gets higher, the triple point shifts toward the lower value of the screening constant but higher value of Coulomb coupling parameter.

The dynamics of a harmonically trapped three-dimensional Yukawa ball of charged dust particles immersed in plasma is investigated as function of external magnetic field and Coulomb coupling parameter using molecular dynamics simulation. It is shown that the harmonically trapped dust particles organize themselves into nested spherical shells. The particles start rotating in a coherent order as the magnetic field reaches a critical value corresponding to the coupling parameter of the system of dust particles. The magnetically controlled charged dust cluster of finite size undergoes a first-order phase transition from disordered to ordered phase. At sufficiently high coupling and strong magnetic field, the vibrational mode of this finite-sized charged dust cluster freezes, and the system retains only rotational motion.

We report a theoretical investigation of the dust lattice (DL) mode in two-dimensional Yukawa crystals in the presence of asymmetric ion flow and an external magnetic field perpendicular to the crystal plane. Two mutually perpendicular modes are found to be coupled due to Lorentz force. Interaction among the dust grains along the vertical direction of ion flow is strongly affected due to the formation of an ion wake. This causes anisotropy in interaction strength along two mutually perpendicular directions. Both hybrid modes are studied as characteristics of different ion flow speeds and magnetic field strengths. The study shows a fluctuation in DL mode frequency driven by the strength of the particle-wake interaction. The effect of ion flow on polarization of the hybrid wave amplitudes is discussed in detail. Results show a possible mechanism of anomalous phase transition in dusty plasma.