Laser-Driven Shock Acceleration of Ion Beams from Spherical Mass-Limited Targets

Journal Article · Fri Mar 06 00:00:00 EST 2009 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.102.095002· OSTI ID:21180265

Henig, A; Kiefer, D; Hoerlein, R; Major, Zs; Krausz, F; Habs, D ^[1]; Geissler, M ^[1]; Rykovanov, S G ^[1]; Ramis, R ^[2]; Osterhoff, J; Veisz, L; Karsch, S ^[1]; Schreiber, J ^[1]

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1. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Quantenoptik, Garching (Germany)
2. ETSI Aeronauticos, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (Spain)

We report on experimental studies of ion acceleration from spherical targets of diameter 15 {mu}m irradiated by ultraintense (1x10{sup 20} W/cm{sup 2}) pulses from a 20-TW Ti:sapphire laser system. A highly directed proton beam with plateau-shaped spectrum extending to energies up to 8 MeV is observed in the laser propagation direction. This beam arises from acceleration in a converging shock launched by the laser, which is confirmed by 3-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The temporal evolution of the shock-front curvature shows excellent agreement with a two-dimensional radiation pressure model.

• OSTI ID: 21180265
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 9; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.095002; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
ACCELERATION
EVOLUTION
ION BEAMS
LASERS
MASS
MEV RANGE 01-10
PROTON BEAMS
PULSES
RADIATION PRESSURE
SAPPHIRE
SIMULATION
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS