Stable long range proton acceleration driven by intense laser pulse with underdense plasmas

Journal Article · Sun Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4882437· OSTI ID:22304185

Gu, Y. J. ^[1]; Zhu, Z.; Li, X. F.; Yu, Q.; Huang, S.; Zhang, F.; Kawata, S. ^[2]

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1. Applied Ion Beam Physics Laboratory, Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433 (China)
2. Department of Advanced Interdisciplinary Sciences, Utsunomiya University, Yohtoh 7-1-2, Utsunomiya 321-8585 (Japan)

Proton acceleration is investigated by 2.5-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations in an interaction of an ultra intense laser with a near-critical-density plasma. It was found that multi acceleration mechanisms contribute together to a 1.67 GeV collimated proton beam generation. The W-BOA (breakout afterburner based on electrons accelerated by a wakefield) acceleration mechanism plays an important role for the proton energy enhancement in the area far from the target. The stable and continuous acceleration maintains for a long distance and period at least several pico-seconds. Furthermore, the energy scalings are also discussed about the target density and the laser intensity.

• OSTI ID: 22304185
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 6; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
AFTERBURNERS
LASERS
PLASMA ACCELERATION
PLASMA DENSITY
PROTON BEAMS
SIMULATION