Monoenergetic High-energy Ion Source via Femtosecond Laser Incident Parallel to a Microplate

Abstract

Using fully three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we show that readily available femtosecond laser systems can stably generate proton beams with hundred MeV energy and low spread at $\sim 1\%$ level by parallel irradiation of a tens of micrometers long plasma plate. As the laser pulse sweeps along the plate, it drags out a huge charge ($\sim$100 nC) of collimated energetic electrons and accelerates them along the plate surface to superponderomotive energies. When this dense electron current arrives at the rear end of the plate, it induces a strong electrostatic field. Due to the excessive space charge of electrons, the longitudinal field becomes bunching while the transverse field is focusing. Together, this leads to a highly monoenergetic energy spectrum and much higher proton energy as compared to simulation results from typical target normal sheath acceleration and radiation pressure acceleration at the same laser parameters.

References in corpus (21)

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• Ion acceleration by superintense laser-plasma interaction
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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Surface Plasmon-Driven Electron and Proton Acceleration without Grating Coupling
• Energy-chirp compensation of laser-driven ion beams enabled by structured targets
• Direct laser acceleration in varying plasma density profiles
• Enhanced target normal sheath acceleration with a grooved hydrocarbon target
• Electron and ion acceleration from femtosecond laser-plasma peeler scheme
• Acceleration and focusing of multispecies ion beam using a converging laser-driven shock
• A new scheme for isomer pumping and depletion with high-power lasers