2017/07/29 by Jarosław Domański, Domanski, Jaroslaw, J. Badziak +3
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Laser Material Processing Techniques #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1707.09554
openalex publication_date 2017/07/29 · openalex created_date 2022/10/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The paper reports the results of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations\nof proton beam acceleration at the interactions of a 130 fs laser pulse of\nintensity from the range of 1021-1023 W/cm2, predicted for the Extreme Light\nInfrastructure (ELI) lasers currently built in Europe, with a thin hydrocarbon\n(CH) target. A special attention is paid to the effect of the laser pulse\nintensity and polarization (linear-LP, circular-CP) as well as the target\nthickness on the proton energy spectrum, the proton beam spatial distribution\nand the proton pulse shape and intensity. It is shown that for the highest,\nultra-relativistic intensities (1023 W/cm2) the effect of laser polarization\non the proton beam parameters is relatively weak and for both polarizations\nquasi-monoenergetic proton beams of the mean proton energy about 2 GeV and\ndE/E=0.3 for LP and dE/E=0.2 for CP are generated from the 0.1 micrometer CH\ntarget. At short distances from the irradiated target (below 50 micrometers),\nthe proton pulse is very short (below 20 fs), and the proton beam intensities\nreach extremely high values above 1021 W/cm2, which are much higher than\nthose attainable in conventional accelerators. Such proton beams can open the\ndoor for new areas of research in high energy-density physics and nuclear\nphysics as well as can also prove useful for applications in materials research≠.g. as a tool for high-resolution proton radiography.\n