Nanowire implosion under laser amplified spontaneous emission pedestal irradiation

Abstract Nanowire array targets exhibit high optical absorption when interacting with short, intense laser pulses. This leads to an increased yield in the production of accelerated particles for a variety of applications. However, these interactions are sensitive to the laser prepulse and could be significantly affected. Here, we show that an array of aligned nanowires is imploded when irradiated by an Amplified Spontaneous Emission pedestal of a $$1\,\text{PW}$$ 1 PW laser with an intensity on the order of $$10^{11}\, \mathrm {W \, cm^{-2}}$$ 10 11 W cm - 2 . Using radiation hydrodynamics simulations, we demonstrate that the electron density profile is radially compressed at the tip by the rocket-like propulsion of the ablated plasma. The mass density compression increases up to $$2.9\times$$ 2.9 × when a more dense nanowire array is used. This is due to the ablation pressure from the neighboring nanowires. These findings offer valuable information for selecting an appropriate target design for experiments aimed at enhancing production of accelerated particles.