Ion energy scaling under optimum conditions of laser plasma acceleration

Abstract

A new, maximum proton energy, $e$, scaling law with the laser pulse energy, $E_L$ has been derived from the results of 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Utilizing numerical modelling, protons are accelerated during interactions of the femtosecond relativistic laser pulses with the plain semi-transparent targets of optimum thickness [Esirkepov {\it et al.} Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 96}, 105001 (2206)]. The scaling, $e\sim E_L^{0.7}$, has been obtained for the wide range of laser energies, different spot sizes, and laser pulse durations. Our results show that the proper selection of foil target optimum thicknesses, results in a very promising increase of the ion energy with the laser intensity even in the range of parameters below the radiation pressure (light sail) regime. The proposed analytical model is consistent with numerical simulations.

References in corpus (3)

• Radiation Pressure Acceleration of Ion Beams Driven by Circularly Polarized Laser Pulses
• Laser Ion Acceleration Scaling Laws Seen in Muti-Parametric PIC Simulations
• Fusion reactions initiated by laser-accelerated particle beams in a laser-produced plasma

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Synchronized ion acceleration by ultraintense slow light
• Synchrotron radiation from ultrahigh-intensity laser-plasma interactions and competition with Bremsstrahlung in thin foil targets
• Numerical investigation of spallation neutrons generated from petawatt-scale laser-driven proton beams
• Proton acceleration by a pair of successive ultraintense femtosecond laser pulses
• Effects of oblique incidence and colliding pulses on laser-driven proton acceleration from relativistically transparent ultrathin targets
• Origins of plateau formation in ion energy spectra under target normal sheath acceleration