A detailed examination of laser-ion acceleration mechanisms in the relativistic transparency regime using tracers

Stark, David J.; Yin, Lin; Albright, Brian J.; Nystrom, William; Bird, Robert

doi:10.1063/1.5028129

Title: A detailed examination of laser-ion acceleration mechanisms in the relativistic transparency regime using tracers

Journal Article · Thu Apr 19 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5028129· OSTI ID:1482934

^[1]; Yin, Lin ^[1]; Albright, Brian J. ^[1]; Nystrom, William ^[1]; Bird, Robert ^[1]

Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

We present a particle-in-cell study of linearly polarized laser-ion acceleration systems, in which we use both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) simulations to characterize the ion acceleration mechanisms in targets which become transparent to the laser pulse during irradiation. First, we perform a target length scan to optimize the peak ion energies in both 2D and 3D, and the predictive capabilities of 2D simulations are discussed. Tracer analysis allows us to isolate the acceleration into stages of target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA), hole boring (HB), and break-out afterburner (BOA) acceleration, which vary in effectiveness based on the simulation parameters. The thinnest targets reveal that enhanced TNSA is responsible for accelerating the most energetic ions, whereas the thickest targets have ions undergoing successive phases of HB and TNSA (in 2D) or BOA and TNSA (in 3D); HB is not observed to be a dominant acceleration mechanism in the 3D simulations. It is in the intermediate optimal regime, both when the laser breaks through the target with appreciable amplitude and when there is enough plasma to form a sustained high density flow, that BOA is most effective and is responsible for the most energetic ions. Eliminating the transverse laser spot size effects by performing a plane wave simulation, we can isolate with greater confidence the underlying physics behind the ion dynamics we observe. Specifically, supplemented by wavelet and FFT analyses, we match the post-transparency BOA acceleration with a wave-particle resonance with a high-amplitude low-frequency electrostatic wave of increasing phase velocity, consistent with that predicted by the Buneman instability.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; LANL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

OSTI ID:: 1482934

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1434053

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-18-21781

Journal Information:: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 4; ISSN 1070-664X

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 10 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (67)

Cascaded proton acceleration by collisionless electrostatic shock Xu, T. J.; Shen, B. F.; Zhang, X. M. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4923455	journal	July 2015
Break-out afterburner ion acceleration in the longer laser pulse length regime Yin, L.; Albright, B. J.; Jung, D. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3596555	journal	June 2011
Forward Ion Acceleration in Thin Films Driven by a High-Intensity Laser Maksimchuk, A.; Gu, S.; Flippo, K. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 84, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.4108	journal	May 2000
Laser-driven 1 GeV carbon ions from preheated diamond targets in the break-out afterburner regime Jung, D.; Yin, L.; Gautier, D. C. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4817287	journal	August 2013
Generating High-Current Monoenergetic Proton Beams by a CircularlyPolarized Laser Pulse in the Phase-StableAcceleration Regime Yan, X. Q.; Lin, C.; Sheng, Z. M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.135003	journal	April 2008
Relativistic self-induced transparency effect during ultraintense laser interaction with overdense plasmas: Why it occurs and its use for ultrashort electron bunch generation Eremin, V. I.; Korzhimanov, A. V.; Kim, A. V. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3368791	journal	April 2010
Accelerating protons to therapeutic energies with ultraintense, ultraclean, and ultrashort laser pulses: Accelerating protons to therapeutic energies with laser pulses Bulanov, Stepan S.; Brantov, Andrei; Bychenkov, Valery Yu. Medical Physics, Vol. 35, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1118/1.2900112	journal	April 2008
Effects of dimensionality on kinetic simulations of laser-ion acceleration in the transparency regime Stark, D. J.; Yin, L.; Albright, B. J. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 24, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4982741	journal	May 2017
Laser-driven ion acceleration from relativistically transparent nanotargets Hegelich, B. M.; Pomerantz, I.; Yin, L. New Journal of Physics, Vol. 15, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/15/8/085015	journal	August 2013
Efficient carbon ion beam generation from laser-driven volume acceleration Jung, D.; Yin, L.; Albright, B. J. New Journal of Physics, Vol. 15, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/15/2/023007	journal	February 2013
Progress and prospects of ion-driven fast ignition Fernández, Juan C.; Honrubia, J. J.; Albright, Brian J. Nuclear Fusion, Vol. 49, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1088/0029-5515/49/6/065004	journal	April 2009
MeV Ion Jets from Short-Pulse-Laser Interaction with Thin Foils Hegelich, M.; Karsch, S.; Pretzler, G. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 89, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.085002	journal	August 2002
Laser-Driven Shock Acceleration of Monoenergetic Ion Beams Fiuza, F.; Stockem, A.; Boella, E. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.215001	journal	November 2012
GeV laser ion acceleration from ultrathin targets: The laser break-out afterburner Yin, L.; Albright, B. J.; Hegelich, B. M. Laser and Particle Beams, Vol. 24, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0263034606060459	journal	June 2006
Energetic proton generation in ultra-intense laser–solid interactions Wilks, S. C.; Langdon, A. B.; Cowan, T. E. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 8, Issue 2, p. 542-549 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1333697	journal	February 2001
Three-Dimensional Dynamics of Breakout Afterburner Ion Acceleration Using High-Contrast Short-Pulse Laser and Nanoscale Targets Yin, L.; Albright, B. J.; Bowers, K. J. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.045003	journal	July 2011
Enhanced Laser-Driven Ion Acceleration in the Relativistic Transparency Regime Henig, A.; Kiefer, D.; Markey, K. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.045002	journal	July 2009
Energetic ions generated by laser pulses: A detailed study on target properties Roth, M.; Blazevic, A.; Geissel, M. Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators and Beams, Vol. 5, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.5.061301	journal	June 2002
Intense High-Energy Proton Beams from Petawatt-Laser Irradiation of Solids Snavely, R. A.; Key, M. H.; Hatchett, S. P. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 85, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.2945	journal	October 2000
Fast Ignition by Intense Laser-Accelerated Proton Beams Roth, M.; Cowan, T. E.; Key, M. H. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 86, Issue 3, p. 436-439 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.436	journal	January 2001
Strong field electrodynamics of a thin foil Bulanov, Sergei V.; Esirkepov, Timur Zh.; Kando, Masaki Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4848758	journal	December 2013
Bright Laser-Driven Neutron Source Based on the Relativistic Transparency of Solids Roth, M.; Jung, D.; Falk, K. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 110, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.044802	journal	January 2013
Vlasov simulation of laser-driven shock acceleration and ion turbulence Grassi, A.; Fedeli, L.; Sgattoni, A. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 58, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/58/3/034021	journal	February 2016
The impact of contaminants on laser-driven light ion acceleration Petrov, G. M.; Willingale, L.; Davis, J. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3497002	journal	October 2010
Shock ion acceleration by an ultrashort circularly polarized laser pulse via relativistic transparency in an exploded target Kim, Young-Kuk; Cho, Myung-Hoon; Song, Hyung Seon Physical Review E, Vol. 92, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.92.043102	journal	October 2015
Quasi-monoenergetic ion beam acceleration by laser-driven shock and solitary waves in near-critical plasmas Zhang, W. L.; Qiao, B.; Huang, T. W. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4959585	journal	July 2016
Electromagnetic Energy Penetration in the Self-Induced Transparency Regime of Relativistic Laser-Plasma Interactions Tushentsov, M.; Kim, A.; Cattani, F. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 87, Issue 27 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.275002	journal	December 2001
Nonlinear electrodynamics of the interaction of ultra-intense laser pulses with a thin foil Vshivkov, V. A.; Naumova, N. M.; Pegoraro, F. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 5, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.872961	journal	July 1998
Laser acceleration of light ions from high-intensity laser-target interactions Petrov, G. M.; Davis, J. Applied Physics B, Vol. 96, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-009-3624-7	journal	June 2009
Fast ignition with laser-driven proton and ion beams Fernández, J. C.; Albright, B. J.; Beg, F. N. Nuclear Fusion, Vol. 54, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1088/0029-5515/54/5/054006	journal	April 2014
Ion Acceleration in Multispecies Targets Driven by Intense Laser Radiation Pressure Kar, S.; Kakolee, K. F.; Qiao, B. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.185006	journal	November 2012
Self-induced transparency and self-induced opacity in laser-plasma interactions Goloviznin, V. V.; Schep, T. J. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 7, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.873976	journal	May 2000
Beam profiles of proton and carbon ions in the relativistic transparency regime Jung, D.; Albright, B. J.; Yin, L. New Journal of Physics, Vol. 15, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/15/12/123035	journal	December 2013
Ultra-intense laser pulse propagation in plasmas: from classic hole-boring to incomplete hole-boring with relativistic transparency Weng, S. M.; Murakami, M.; Mulser, P. New Journal of Physics, Vol. 14, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/14/6/063026	journal	June 2012
Determination of water absorbed dose in a carbon ion beam using thimble ionization chambers Hartmann, G. H.; Jäkel, O.; Heeg, P. Physics in Medicine and Biology, Vol. 44, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/44/5/008	journal	January 1999
Electron, photon, and ion beams from the relativistic interaction of Petawatt laser pulses with solid targets Hatchett, Stephen P.; Brown, Curtis G.; Cowan, Thomas E. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 7, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.874030	journal	May 2000
High energy ions generated by laser driven Coulomb explosion of cluster Nishihara, K.; Amitani, H.; Murakami, M. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 464, Issue 1-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-9002(01)00014-6	journal	May 2001
Ion Acceleration by Collisionless Shocks in High-Intensity-Laser–Underdense-Plasma Interaction Wei, M. S.; Mangles, S. P. D.; Najmudin, Z. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 93, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.155003	journal	October 2004
Conditions for efficient and stable ion acceleration by moderate circularly polarized laser pulses at intensities of 10 ²⁰ W/cm ² Qiao, B.; Zepf, M.; Gibbon, P. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3577573	journal	April 2011
Visualization of expanding warm dense gold and diamond heated rapidly by laser-generated ion beams Bang, W.; Albright, B. J.; Bradley, P. A. Scientific Reports, Vol. 5, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14318	journal	September 2015
Relativistically correct hole-boring and ion acceleration by circularly polarized laser pulses Robinson, A. P. L.; Gibbon, P.; Zepf, M. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 51, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/51/2/024004	journal	January 2009
Ion shock acceleration by large amplitude slow ion acoustic double layers in laser-produced plasmas Eliasson, B. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4866240	journal	February 2014
Accelerating monoenergetic protons from ultrathin foils by flat-top laser pulses in the directed-Coulomb-explosion regime Bulanov, S. S.; Brantov, A.; Bychenkov, V. Yu. Physical Review E, Vol. 78, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.78.026412	journal	August 2008
Ultrahigh performance three-dimensional electromagnetic relativistic kinetic plasma simulation Bowers, K. J.; Albright, B. J.; Yin, L. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 15, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2840133	journal	May 2008
Laser acceleration of quasi-monoenergetic MeV ion beams Hegelich, B. M.; Albright, B. J.; Cobble, J. Nature, Vol. 439, Issue 7075 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04400	journal	January 2006
Relativistic Buneman instability in the laser breakout afterburner Albright, B. J.; Yin, L.; Bowers, Kevin J. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 14, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2768933	journal	September 2007
Dynamics of relativistic transparency and optical shuttering in expanding overdense plasmas Palaniyappan, Sasi; Hegelich, B. Manuel; Wu, Hui-Chun Nature Physics, Vol. 8, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2390	journal	August 2012
Advances in petascale kinetic plasma simulation with VPIC and Roadrunner Bowers, K. J.; Albright, B. J.; Yin, L. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 180 https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/180/1/012055	journal	July 2009
Effect of electron heating on self-induced transparency in relativistic-intensity laser-plasma interactions Siminos, E.; Grech, M.; Skupin, S. Physical Review E, Vol. 86, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.86.056404	journal	November 2012
Coulomb explosion effect and the maximum energy of protons accelerated by high-power lasers Fourkal, E.; Velchev, I.; Ma, C. -M. Physical Review E, Vol. 71, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.71.036412	journal	March 2005
Ion acceleration from laser-driven electrostatic shocks Fiuza, F.; Stockem, A.; Boella, E. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4801526	journal	May 2013
Threshold of induced transparency in the relativistic interaction of an electromagnetic wave with overdense plasmas Cattani, F.; Kim, A.; Anderson, D. Physical Review E, Vol. 62, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.62.1234	journal	July 2000
Shock wave acceleration of protons in inhomogeneous plasma interacting with ultrashort intense laser pulses Lécz, Zs.; Andreev, A. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4913438	journal	April 2015
Efficiency Enhancement for $K_{α}$ X-Ray Yields from Laser-Driven Relativistic Electrons in Solids Sefkow, A. B.; Bennett, G. R.; Geissel, M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.235002	journal	June 2011
Relativistic Nonlinear Propagation of Laser Beams in Cold Overdense Plasmas Kaw, Predhiman Physics of Fluids, Vol. 13, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1692942	journal	January 1970
Monoenergetic and GeV ion acceleration from the laser breakout afterburner using ultrathin targets Yin, L.; Albright, B. J.; Hegelich, B. M. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 14, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2436857	journal	May 2007
Scaling of ion energies in the relativistic-induced transparency regime Jung, D.; Albright, B. J.; Yin, L. Laser and Particle Beams, Vol. 33, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0263034615000828	journal	October 2015
Strong Electromagnetic Waves in Overdense Plasmas Max, Claire; Perkins, Francis Physical Review Letters, Vol. 27, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.27.1342	journal	November 1971
Electromagnetic Energy Penetration in the Self-Induced Transparency Regime of Relativistic Laser-Plasma Interactions Anderson, D.; Cattani, F.; Kim, A. The American Physical Society https://doi.org/10.17877/de290r-11712	text	January 2001
Strong field electrodynamics of a thin foil Bulanov, S. S.; Bulanov, S. V.; Esirkepov, T. Zh. ADVANCED ACCELERATOR CONCEPTS: 17th Advanced Accelerator Concepts Workshop, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4975897	conference	January 2017
Fast Ignition by Intense Laser-Accelerated Proton Beams Brown, C.; Bulanov, S. V.; Campbell, E. M. The American Physical Society https://doi.org/10.17877/de290r-12030	text	January 2001
Laser-driven shock acceleration of monoenergetic ion beams Fiuza, F.; Stockem, A.; Boella, E. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1206.2903	text	January 2012
Ion acceleration in multispecies targets driven by intense laser radiation pressure Kar, S.; Kakolee, K. F.; Qiao, B. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1207.4288	text	January 2012
Ion acceleration from laser-driven electrostatic shocks Fiuza, F.; Stockem, A.; Boella, E. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1301.4262	text	January 2013
Strong field electrodynamics of a thin foil Bulanov, Sergei V.; Esirkepov, Timur Zh.; Kando, Masaki arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1310.5181	text	January 2013
Vlasov simulation of laser-driven shock acceleration and ion turbulence Grassi, Anna; Fedeli, Luca; Sgattoni, Andrea arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1507.08585	text	January 2015
Electromagnetic energy penetration in the self-induced transparency regime of relativistic laser-plasma interactions Tushentsov, M.; Cattani, F.; Kim, A. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.physics/0010058	text	January 2000

Cited By (2)

Harnessing the relativistic Buneman instability for laser-ion acceleration in the transparency regime Stark, D. J.; Yin, L.; Albright, B. J. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5028128	journal	June 2018
Laser-ion acceleration using mixed compositions: Tailoring the target for each species Stark, D. J.; Yin, L.; Albright, B. J. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5121430	journal	December 2019

Similar Records

Ultlra-intense laser-matter interactions at extreme parameters

Conference · Wed Nov 24 00:00:00 EST 2010 · OSTI ID:1482934

Hegellich, Bjorn M

Monoenergetic and GeV ion acceleration from the laser breakout afterburner using ultrathin targets

Journal Article · Tue May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:1482934

Yin, L; Albright, B J; Hegelich, B M; +4 more

Relativistic Buneman instability in the laser breakout afterburner

Journal Article · Sat Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:1482934

Albright, B J; Yin, L; Bowers, Kevin J; +4 more

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
plasma flows
wave mechanics
ion accelerator
plasma waves
velocity gradient tensor
particle-in-cell method
laser plasma interactions
electrostatics
plasma instabilities

Title: A detailed examination of laser-ion acceleration mechanisms in the relativistic transparency regime using tracers

Citation Formats

References (67)

Cited By (2)

Similar Records

Related Subjects