Ion Acceleration in Multispecies Targets Driven by Intense Laser Radiation Pressure

Year: 2012

Authors: Kar S., Kakolee K. F., Qiao B., Macchi A., Cerchez M., Doria D., Geissler M., McKenna P., Neely D., Osterholz J., Prasad R., Quinn K., Ramakrishna B., Sarri G., Willi O., Yuan X.Y., Zepf M., Borghesi M.

Autors Affiliation: Centre for Plasma Physics, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom;
Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, CNR, Pisa, Italy;
Department of Physics “Enrico Fermi,” Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy;
Institut für Laser-und Plasmaphysik, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf, Germany;
Department of Physics, SUPA, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NG, United Kingdom;
Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, United Kingdom;
Helmholtz Institut Jena, D-07743 Jena, Germany;
Institute of Physics of the ASCR, ELI-Beamlines Project, Na Slovance 2, 18221 Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract: The acceleration of ions from ultrathin foils has been investigated by using 250 TW, subpicosecond laser pulses, focused to intensities of up to 3 X 10(20) W cm(-2). The ion spectra show the appearance of narrow-band features for protons and carbon ions peaked at higher energies (in the 5-10 MeV/nucleon range) and with significantly higher flux than previously reported. The spectral features and their scaling with laser and target parameters provide evidence of a multispecies scenario of radiation pressure acceleration in the light sail mode, as confirmed by analytical estimates and 2D particle-in-cell simulations. The scaling indicates that monoenergetic peaks with more than 100 MeV/nucleon are obtainable with moderate improvements of the target and laser characteristics, which are within reach of ongoing technical developments.

Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Volume: 109 (18)      Pages from: 185006  to: 185006

More Information: The authors acknowledge funding from EPSRC [EP/E035728/1-LIBRA consortium, EP/E048668/1 and EP/J002550/1-Career Acceleration Fellowship held by S. K.], Leverhulme Trust (Fellowship ECF-2011-383 held by G. S.), MIUR (Italy) via the FIRB project \”SULDIS,\” projects ELI (Grant No. CZ.1.05/1.1.00/483/02.0061) and OPVK 3 (Grant No. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0279), and DFG programs TR18 and GK1203. The authors also acknowledge support from the target fabrication group and e-Science facility of RAL-STFC.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.185006

Citations: 236
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