# Publications by Dr. Marc Günther

All publications of HI Jena

## 2018

M. M. Günther, A. V. Volotka, M. Jentschel, S. Fritzsche, Th. Stöhlker, P. G. Thirolf, and M. Zepf
Dispersive refraction of different light to heavy materials at MeV γ-ray energies
Physical Review A 97, 063843 (2018)

Abstract: The dispersive behavior of materials with atomic charge numbers varying from Z=4 (beryllium, Be) to Z=82 (lead, Pb) was investigated experimentally and theoretically at gamma-ray energies up to 2 MeV. The experiment was performed at the double-crystal gamma spectrometer GAMS6 of the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble. The experimental results were compared with theoretical calculations which account for all major elastic processes involved. Overall, we found a good agreement between theory and experiment. We find that, for the development of refractive optics at $\gamma$-ray energies beyond those currently in use, high-Z materials become increasingly attractive compared to the beryllium lens-stacks used at x-ray energies.

## 2017

M. M. Günther, M. Jentschel, A. J. Pollitt, P. G. Thirolf, and M. Zepf
Refractive-index measurement of Si at γ-ray energies up to 2 MeV
Physical Review A 95, 053864 (2017)

Abstract: The refractive index of silicon at γ-ray energies from 181 to 1959 keV was investigated using the GAMS6 double crystal spectrometer and found to follow the predictions of the classical scattering model. This is in contrast to earlier measurements on the GAMS5 spectrometer, which suggested a sign change in the refractive index for photon energies above 500 keV. We present a reevaluation of the original data from 2011 as well as data from a 2013 campaign in which we show that systematic errors due to diffraction effects of the prism can explain the earlier data.

J. Thomas, M. M. Günther, and A. Pukhov
Beam load structures in a basic relativistic interaction model
Physics of Plasmas 24, 013101 (2017)

Abstract: Some recent experiments have shown that the beam load in bubble and blow-out experiments is located in a volume as small as a few μm^3. Now, we show what kinds of inner structures are possible in such a high dense electron ensemble. Our analysis starts from a first principles model for relativistically corrected mutual electron interaction in a phenomenological bubble model. Discussing 2D and 3D beam load configurations, we show that, depending on the bunch emittance, the beam load might be in a highly ordered and dense configuration, a less ordered but still dense state, or a configuration where each electron performs an individual random motion.

## 2015

S. Schmidt, U. Lippmann, M. M. Guenther, and H. Gross
Diffraction effects in laser beam shaping systems
Proceedings of SPIE 9626, 962610 (2015)

Abstract: In modern laser-based ion acceleration systems, the field distribution of the focused laser beam at the position of the target strongly influences the overall characteristics of the resulting ion beam. To obtain an unidirectional and quasi mono-energetic ion beam, a flat-top field distribution of the focused laser beam is optimal. This can only be achieved, by using a beam-profiling system that reshapes the incident laser beam into an Airy-shaped field distribution in the far field. Here, we present an extensive design study of such a beam-profiling system based on two free-form mirrors. In order to realize the rings of zero intensity, corresponding to the roots of the Airy-function, strong curvature peaks on the first mirror are necessary. Additionally, the alternating phase in between these rings can only be achieved with grooves on the second mirror. These aspects actually raise the question, if the used purely geometric optical modeling approach is still valid. Therefore, our design study is entirely accompanied with wave-optical simulations to identify influences of diffraction within the beam profiling system. We find that especially the grooves on the second mirror are mandatory, not only to ensure the alternating phase, but also to realize the roots of zero intensity of the Airy-function. On the other hand, these grooves cause diffraction effects in the beam-profiling system that slightly degrade the at-top focal field. These influences are in the range of a few percent and cannot be further avoided.