Conditions for efficient and stable ion acceleration by moderate circularly polarized laser pulses at intensities of 10{sup 20} W/cm{sup 2}
- School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN (United Kingdom)
- Juelich Supercomputing Center, Forschungzentrum Juelich GmbH, D-52425 Juelich (Germany)
- Max-Planck-Institut fuer Quantenoptik, D-85748 Garching (Germany)
Conditions for efficient and stable ion radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) from thin foils by circularly polarized laser pulses at moderate intensities are theoretically and numerically investigated. It is found that the unavoidable decompression of the co-moving electron layer in Light-Sail RPA leads to a change of the local electrostatic field from a ''bunching'' to a ''debunching'' profile, ultimately resulting in premature termination of ion acceleration. One way to overcome this instability is the use of a multispecies foil where the high-Z ions act as a sacrificial species to supply excess co-moving electrons for preserving stable acceleration of the lower-Z ion species. It is shown by 2D particle-in-cell simulations that 100 MeV/u monoenergetic C{sup 6+} ion beams are produced by irradiation of a Cu-C-mixed foil with laser pulses at intensities 5 x 10{sup 20} W/cm{sup 2}, which can be easily achieved by current day lasers.
- OSTI ID:
- 21537656
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3577573; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Stable GeV Ion-Beam Acceleration from Thin Foils by Circularly Polarized Laser Pulses
Radiation-Pressure Acceleration of Ion Beams from Nanofoil Targets: The Leaky Light-Sail Regime