Fast ion acceleration from thin foils irradiated by ultra-high intensity, ultra-high contrast laser pulses

Journal Article · Mon Sep 19 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3643133· OSTI ID:22027744

Prasad, R; Ter-Avetisyan, S; Doria, D; Quinn, K E; Romagnani, L; Zepf, M; Borghesi, M ^[1]; Andreev, A A ^[2]; Brenner, C M; Gallegos, P ^[3]; Carroll, D C; McKenna, P; Tresca, O ^[4]; Dover, N P; Najmudin, Z; Palmer, C A. J. ^[5]; Neely, D; Green, J S ^[3]; Foster, P S ^[1]; Schreiber, J ^[5] ; others, and

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1. Centre for Plasma Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN (United Kingdom)
2. Vavilov State Optical Institute, St. Petersburg 119034 (Russian Federation)
3. Central Laser Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, OX11 0QX (United Kingdom)
4. Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow (United Kingdom)
5. The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London SW7 2BZ (United Kingdom)

Ion acceleration resulting from the interaction of ultra-high intensity (2 x 10{sup 20 }W/cm{sup 2}) and ultra-high contrast ({approx}10{sup 10}) laser pulses with 0.05-10 {mu}m thick Al foils at normal (0 deg.) and 35 deg. laser incidence is investigated. When decreasing the target thickness from 10 {mu}m down to 0.05 {mu}m, the accelerated ions become less divergent and the ion flux increases, particularly at normal (0 deg.) laser incidence on the target. A laser energy conversion into protons of {approx}6.5% is estimated at 35 deg. laser incidence. Experimental results are in reasonable agreement with theoretical estimates and can be a benchmark for further theoretical and computational work.

• OSTI ID: 22027744
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 99, Issue 12; Other Information: (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ACCELERATION
ALUMINIUM
BEAM PRODUCTION
BEAM-PLASMA SYSTEMS
ENERGY CONVERSION
FOILS
ION BEAMS
IONS
LASER RADIATION
LASER TARGETS
LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA
LASERS
PROTONS
PULSES
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS