Light Sail Acceleration Reexamined

Year: 2009

Authors: Macchi A., Veghini S., Pegoraro F.

Autors Affiliation: CNR/INFM/polyLAB, Pisa, Italy;
Dipartimento di Fisica “Enrico Fermi”, Università di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy

Abstract: The dynamics of the acceleration of ultrathin foil targets by the radiation pressure of superintense, circularly polarized laser pulses is investigated by analytical modeling and particle-in-cell simulations. By addressing self-induced transparency and charge separation effects, it is shown that for \”optimal\” values of the foil thickness only a thin layer at the rear side is accelerated by radiation pressure. The simple “light sail” model gives a good estimate of the energy per nucleon, but overestimates the conversion efficiency of laser energy into monoenergetic ions.

Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Volume: 103 (8)      Pages from: 085003-1  to: 085003-4

More Information: Support from CNR via a RSTL project and use of supercomputing facilities at CINECA ( Bologna, Italy) sponsored by the CNR/INFM supercomputing initiative are acknowledged.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.085003

Citations: 292
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