Guiding and collimation of laser-accelerated proton beams using thin foils followed with a hollow plasma channel

Journal Article · Tue Sep 15 04:00:00 EDT 2015 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4930261· OSTI ID:22493762

Xiao, K. D. ^[1]; He, X. T. ^[1]

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1. Center for Applied Physics and Technology, HEDPS, and School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)

It is proposed that guided and collimated proton acceleration by intense lasers can be achieved using an advanced target—a thin foil followed by a hollow plasma channel. For the advanced target, the laser-accelerated hot electrons can be confined in the hollow channel at the foil rear side, which leads to the formation of transversely localized, Gaussian-distributed sheath electric field and resultantly guiding of proton acceleration. Further, due to the hot electron flow along the channel wall, a strong focusing transverse electric field is induced, taking the place of the original defocusing one driven by hot electron pressure in the case of a purely thin foil target, which results in collimation of proton beams. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that collimated proton beams with energy about 20 MeV and nearly half-reduced divergence of 26° are produced at laser intensities 10{sup 20 }W/cm{sup 2} by using the advanced target.

• OSTI ID: 22493762
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 22; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ACCELERATION
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRONS
FOCUSING
FOILS
LASER TARGETS
LASERS
MEV RANGE
PLASMA
PLASMA SIMULATION
PROTON BEAMS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS