Enhanced ion acceleration in transition from opaque to transparent plasmas

Mishra, R.; Fiuza, F.; Glenzer, S.

doi:10.1088/1367-2630/aab8db

Title: Enhanced ion acceleration in transition from opaque to transparent plasmas

Journal Article · 20 April 2018 · New Journal of Physics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aab8db · OSTI ID:1438561

Mishra, R. ^[1]; Fiuza, F. ^[1]; Glenzer, S. ^[1]

SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Using particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate ion acceleration in the interaction of high intensity lasers with plasmas which transition from opaque to transparent during the interaction process. We show that the highest ion energies are achieved when the laser traverses the target around the peak intensity and re-heats the electron population responsible for the plasma expansion, enhancing the corresponding sheath electric field. This process can lead to an increase of up to 2x in ion energy when compared with the standard Target Normal Sheath Acceleration in opaque targets under the same laser conditions. A theoretical model is developed to predict the optimal target areal density as a function of laser intensity and pulse duration. A systematic parametric scan for a wide range of target densities and thicknesses is performed in 1D, 2D and 3D and shown consistent with the theory and with recent experimental results. Thus, these results open the way for a better optimization of the ion energy in future laser–solid experiments.

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Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515; FWP 100182; FWP 100237

OSTI ID:: 1438561

Journal Information:: New Journal of Physics, Vol. 20, Issue 4; ISSN 1367-2630

Publisher:: IOP PublishingCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 13 works

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