Enhanced collimated GeV monoenergetic ion acceleration from a shaped foil target irradiated by a circularly polarized laser pulse

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 103; no. 2; p. 024801
• Main Authors: Chen, M, Pukhov, A, Yu, T P, Sheng, Z M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 10-07-2009
• Subjects: 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; ACCELERATION; BEAMS; CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; ENERGY RANGE; ENERGY SPECTRA; FOILS; GEV RANGE; HEATING; ION BEAMS; LASERS; PARTICLE ACCELERATORS; PLASMA HEATING; PULSES; SIMULATION; SPECTRA
• ISSN: 0031-9007; 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.103.024801

Using multidimensional particle-in-cell simulations we study ion acceleration from a foil irradiated by a circularly polarized laser pulse at 10;{22} W/cm;{2} intensity. When the foil is shaped initially in the transverse direction to match the laser intensity profile, three different regions (acceleration, transparency, and deformation region) are observed. In the acceleration region, the foil can be uniformly accelerated for a longer time compared to a usual flat target. Undesirable plasma heating is effectively suppressed. The final energy spectrum of the accelerated ion beam in the acceleration region is improved dramatically. Collimated GeV quasi-monoenergetic ion beams carrying as much as 19% of the laser energy are observed in multidimensional simulations.