Effect of a laser prepulse on fast ion generation in the interaction of ultra-short intense laser pulses with a limited-mass foil target

AbstractThe generation of fast ion beams in the hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration by intense laser pulses has been studied for targets with different ion components. We find that the oscillation of the longitudinal electric field for accelerating ions can be effectively suppressed by using a two-ion-species target, because fast ions from a two-ion-species target are distributed into more bunches and each bunch bears less charge. Consequently, the energy spread of ion beams generated in the hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration can be greatly reduced down to 3.7% according to our numerical simulation.

Download Full-text

Towards Sub-TeV electron beams driven by ultra-short, ultra-intense laser pulses

Journal of Plasma Physics ◽

10.1017/s002237781200044x ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 78 (4) ◽

pp. 461-468 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

WEI-MIN WANG ◽

ZHENG-MING SHENG ◽

SHIGEO KAWATA ◽

CHUN-YANG ZHENG ◽

YU-TONG LI ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Laser Intensity ◽

Electron Beams ◽

Energetic Electron ◽

Thin Foil ◽

Laser Pulses ◽

Intense Laser ◽

Particle In Cell ◽

Intense Laser Pulses ◽

Laser Focus ◽

Foil Target

AbstractEnergetic electron beam generation from a thin foil target by the ponderomotive force of an ultra-intense circularly polarized laser pulse is investigated. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations show that laser pulses with intensity of 1022–1023 Wcm−2 generate about 1–10 GeV electron beams, in agreement with the prediction of one-dimensional theory. When the laser intensity is at 1024–1025 Wcm−2, the beam energy obtained from PIC simulations is lower than the values predicted by the theory. The radiation damping effect is considered, which is found to become important for the laser intensity higher than 1025 Wcm−2. The effect of laser focus positions is also discussed.

Download Full-text

Efficient generation of proton bunches by intense laser pulse with a double-slice-foil target

Journal of Plasma Physics ◽

10.1017/s0022377812000529 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 78 (4) ◽

pp. 491-496

Author(s):

JUN ZHENG ◽

ZHENG-MING SHENG ◽

JIN-LU LIU ◽

WEI-MIN ZHOU ◽

HAN XU ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Double Layer ◽

Laser Pulses ◽

Intense Laser ◽

Particle In Cell ◽

Intense Laser Pulses ◽

Proton Beam Energy ◽

Direct Laser ◽

Laser Acceleration ◽

Foil Target ◽

Target Design

AbstractA double-slice-foil target is proposed for the generation of quasi-monoenergetic proton bunches by intense laser pulses. In this new target structure, two symmetrical solid slices are adjoined obliquely to the front side of a plane double-layer target. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that a large number of hot electrons are pulled out from solid slices and accelerated forward by direct laser acceleration, which lead to significant enhancement of the sheath field and the produced proton beam energy as compared with the normal plane double-layer target and some other modified targets. It appears that well-collimated proton bunches with energy larger than 200 MeV can be produced at the focused laser intensity of about 1021W/cm2 with the proposed target design.

Download Full-text