Investigation of laser-driven proton acceleration using ultra-short, ultra-intense laser pulses
- INRS-EMT, Universite du Quebec, 1650 Lionel Boulet, Varennes, Quebec J3X 1S2 (Canada)
- LULI, UMR 7605, CNRS - CEA - Universite Paris 6 - Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau (France)
- Department of Physics and Institute for Optical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7 (Canada)
We report optimization of laser-driven proton acceleration, for a range of experimental parameters available from a single ultrafast Ti:sapphire laser system. We have characterized laser-generated protons produced at the rear and front target surfaces of thin solid targets (15 nm to 90 {mu}m thicknesses) irradiated with an ultra-intense laser pulse (up to 10{sup 20} W Dot-Operator cm{sup -2}, pulse duration 30 to 500 fs, and pulse energy 0.1 to 1.8 J). We find an almost symmetric behaviour for protons accelerated from rear and front sides, and a linear scaling of proton energy cut-off with increasing pulse energy. At constant laser intensity, we observe that the proton cut-off energy increases with increasing laser pulse duration, then roughly constant for pulses longer than 300 fs. Finally, we demonstrate that there is an optimum target thickness and pulse duration.
- OSTI ID:
- 22113379
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 1; Other Information: (c) 2013 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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