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Title: Quasi-monoenergetic ion beam acceleration by laser-driven shock and solitary waves in near-critical plasmas

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4959585· OSTI ID:22599967
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  1. Center for Applied Physics and Technology, HEDPS, and State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)
  2. Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, Beijing 100094 (China)

Ion acceleration in near-critical plasmas driven by intense laser pulses is investigated theoretically and numerically. A theoretical model has been given for clarification of the ion acceleration dynamics in relation to different laser and target parameters. Two distinct regimes have been identified, where ions are accelerated by, respectively, the laser-induced shock wave in the weakly driven regime (comparatively low laser intensity) and the nonlinear solitary wave in the strongly driven regime (comparatively high laser intensity). Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that quasi-monoenergetic proton beams with a peak energy of 94.6 MeV and an energy spread 15.8% are obtained by intense laser pulses at intensity I{sub 0} = 3 × 10{sup 20 }W/cm{sup 2} and pulse duration τ = 0.5 ps in the strongly driven regime, which is more advantageous than that got in the weakly driven regime. In addition, 233 MeV proton beams with narrow spread can be produced by extending τ to 1.0 ps in the strongly driven regime.

OSTI ID:
22599967
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 7; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English