Victor Malka Explained

Victor Malka
Birth Place:	Casablanca, Morocco
Nationality:	French
Fields:	Plasma physics
Education:	École Polytechnique (Ph.D.)
Known For:	Laser Plasma Acceleration
Awards:	(2017) Hannes Alfvén Prize (2019)
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Victor Malka (born 1960 in Casablanca, Morocco) is a French plasma physicist and a pioneer in laser plasma acceleration. In 2004, Malka demonstrated that high energy monoenergetic electron beams could be generated using the technique of laser wakefield acceleration,^[1] and subsequently used them to develop compact X-ray and gamma radiation sources with applications in medicine, security technology and phase-contrast imaging.^{[2] [3] [4]} For these contributions to the field, he was awarded the in 2007,^[5] the in 2017,^[6] and the Hannes Alfvén Prize in 2019.^[7]

Early life and career

Malka came from a Jewish family in Morocco and came to France at the age of six, where he grew up in Marseille and in the Parisian suburbs. He studied at the Ecole nationale supérieure de chimie in Rennes and received his doctorate at the École Polytechnique with a dissertation in atomic and plasma physics. From 1990, he then worked at the École Polytechnique for the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and from 2004 as Research Director of the Laboratory for Applied Optics (LOA). From 2003 to 2015, he was a professor at the École Polytechnique. He has been a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science since 2015.

Publications

• Modena. A.. Najmudin. Z.. Dangor. A. E.. Clayton. C. E.. Marsh. K. A.. Joshi. C.. Malka. V.. Darrow. C. B.. Danson. C.. Neely. D.. Walsh. F. N.. 4301628. 1995. Electron acceleration from the breaking of relativistic plasma waves. Nature. 377. 6550. 606–608. 10.1038/377606a0. 1995Natur.377..606M. 0028-0836.
• Amiranoff. F.. Baton. S.. Bernard. D.. Cros. B.. Descamps. D.. Dorchies. F.. Jacquet. F.. Malka. V.. Marquès. J. R.. Matthieussent. G.. Miné. P.. 1998. Observation of Laser Wakefield Acceleration of Electrons. Physical Review Letters. 81. 5. 995–998. 10.1103/physrevlett.81.995. 1998PhRvL..81..995A. 0031-9007.
• Gordon. D.. Tzeng. K. C.. Clayton. C. E.. Dangor. A. E.. Malka. V.. Marsh. K. A.. Modena. A.. Mori. W. B.. Muggli. P.. Najmudin. Z.. Neely. D.. 1998. Observation of Electron Energies Beyond the Linear Dephasing Limit from a Laser-Excited Relativistic Plasma Wave. Physical Review Letters. 80. 10. 2133–2136. 10.1103/physrevlett.80.2133. 1998PhRvL..80.2133G. 0031-9007.
• Malka. V.. 23656376. 2002. Electron Acceleration by a Wake Field Forced by an Intense Ultrashort Laser Pulse. Science. 298. 5598. 1596–1600. 10.1126/science.1076782. 12446903. 2002Sci...298.1596M. 0036-8075.
• Rousse. Antoine. Phuoc. Kim Ta. Shah. Rahul. Pukhov. Alexander. Lefebvre. Eric. Malka. Victor. Kiselev. Sergey. Burgy. Fréderic. Rousseau. Jean-Philippe. Umstadter. Donald. Hulin. Daniéle. 2004-09-23. Production of a keV X-Ray Beam from Synchrotron Radiation in Relativistic Laser-Plasma Interaction. Physical Review Letters. 93. 13. 135005. 10.1103/physrevlett.93.135005. 15524731. 2004PhRvL..93m5005R. 2183670 . 0031-9007.
• Shvets. G.. Fisch. N. J.. The seventh workshop on advanced accelerator concepts . 1997. Beam-generated plasma channels for laser wakefield acceleration. The Seventh Workshop on Advanced Accelerator Concepts. 398. 344–356. ASCE. 10.1063/1.53018. 1997AIPC..398..344S. 1-56396-697-2.
• Faure. J.. Rechatin. C.. Norlin. A.. Lifschitz. A.. Glinec. Y.. Malka. V.. 4420732. 2006. Controlled injection and acceleration of electrons in plasma wakefields by colliding laser pulses. Nature. 444. 7120. 737–739. 10.1038/nature05393. 17151663. 2006Natur.444..737F. 0028-0836.
• Fuchs. J.. Antici. P.. d’Humières. E.. Lefebvre. E.. Borghesi. M.. Brambrink. E.. Cecchetti. C. A.. Kaluza. M.. Malka. V.. Manclossi. M.. Meyroneinc. S.. 121952476. 2005-12-25. Laser-driven proton scaling laws and new paths towards energy increase. Nature Physics. 2. 1. 48–54. 10.1038/nphys199. 1745-2473. free.

Notes and References

1. Faure. J.. Glinec. Y.. Pukhov. A.. Kiselev. S.. Gordienko. S.. Lefebvre. E.. Rousseau. J.-P.. Burgy. F.. Malka. V.. 4363528. 2004. A laser–plasma accelerator producing monoenergetic electron beams. Nature. en. 431. 7008. 541–544. 10.1038/nature02963. 15457253. 2004Natur.431..541F. 0028-0836.
2. Malka. Victor. Faure. Jérôme. Gauduel. Yann A.. Lefebvre. Erik. Rousse. Antoine. Phuoc. Kim Ta. 2008. Principles and applications of compact laser–plasma accelerators. Nature Physics. 4. 6. 447–453. 10.1038/nphys966. 2008NatPh...4..447M. 1745-2473.
3. Ta Phuoc. K.. Corde. S.. Thaury. C.. Malka. V.. Tafzi. A.. Goddet. J. P.. Shah. R. C.. Sebban. S.. Rousse. A.. 3724056. 2012. All-optical Compton gamma-ray source. Nature Photonics. 6. 5. 308–311. 10.1038/nphoton.2012.82. 1301.3973. 2012NaPho...6..308T. 1749-4885.
4. Corde. S.. Ta Phuoc. K.. Lambert. G.. Fitour. R.. Malka. V.. Rousse. A.. Beck. A.. Lefebvre. E.. 36252. 2013. Femtosecond x rays from laser-plasma accelerators. Reviews of Modern Physics. 85. 1. 1–48. 10.1103/revmodphys.85.1. 1301.5066. 2013RvMP...85....1C. 0034-6861.
5. Web site: Nuclear & Plasma Sciences Society Particle Accelerator Science and Technology (PAST). 2020-06-07. ieee-npss.org.
6. Web site: Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics. 2020-06-07. springer.com. en.
7. Web site: Award of EPS Alfven Prize 2019 to Victor Malka and Toshiki Tajima e-EPS. 2020-06-07. www.epsnews.eu.