Ion acceleration from microstructured targets irradiated by high-intensity picosecond laser pulses

Bailly-Grandvaux, M.; Kawahito, D.; McGuffey, C.; Strehlow, J.; Edghill, B.; Wei, M. S.; Alexander, N.; Haid, A.; Brabetz, C.; Bagnoud, V.; Hollinger, R.; Capeluto, M. G.; Rocca, J. J.; Beg, F. N.

doi:10.1103/physreve.102.021201

Title: Ion acceleration from microstructured targets irradiated by high-intensity picosecond laser pulses

Journal Article · Mon Aug 03 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Physical Review E

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.102.021201· OSTI ID:1801154

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^[1]; Strehlow, J. ^[1]; Edghill, B. ^[1]; Wei, M. S. ^[2]; Alexander, N. ^[3]; Haid, A. ^[3];

^[4]; Bagnoud, V. ^[4];

^[5];

^[6]; Rocca, J. J. ^[5];

^[1]

Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States)
Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Lab. for Laser Energetics
General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt (Germany)
Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States); Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina); Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires (Argentina); Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Structures on the front surface of thin foil targets for laser-driven ion acceleration have been proposed to increase the ion source maximum energy and conversion efficiency. While structures have been shown to significantly boost the proton acceleration from pulses of moderate-energy fluence, their performance on tightly focused and high-energy lasers remains unclear. Here, we report the results of laser-driven three-dimensional (3D)-printed microtube targets, focusing on their efficacy for ion acceleration. Using the high-contrast (~10¹²⁾ PHELIX laser (150 J, 10²¹ W / cm²), we studied the acceleration of ions from 1-μm-thick foils covered with micropillars or microtubes, which we compared with flat foils. The front-surface structures significantly increased the conversion efficiency from laser to light ions, with up to a factor of 5 higher proton number with respect to a flat target, albeit without an increase of the cutoff energy. An optimum diameter was found for the microtube targets. Our findings in this work are supported by a systematic particle-in-cell modeling investigation of ion acceleration using 2D simulations with various structure dimensions. Simulations reproduce the experimental data with good agreement, including the observation of the optimum tube diameter, and reveal that the laser is shuttered by the plasma filling the tubes, explaining why the ion cutoff energy was not increased in this regime.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003842; LFR-17-449059; FA9550-17-1-0278; ACI-1548562

OSTI ID:: 1801154

Journal Information:: Physical Review E, Vol. 102, Issue 2; ISSN 2470-0045

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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