Simultaneous generation of ions and high-order harmonics from thin conjugated polymer foil irradiated with ultrahigh contrast laser

Abstract

We report the manufacturing of an (ultra-)thin foil target made of conjugated polymer, poly(9,9′-dioctylfluorene-co-benzothiadiazole) (F8BT), and the simultaneous observation of laser-accelerated ions and second harmonic radiation, when irradiated with ultrahigh-contrast laser pulse at a maximum intensity of 4 × 1019 W/cm2. Maximum proton energy of 8 MeV is achieved along the target normal direction. Strong second harmonic with over 6% energy ratio compared to fundamental is emitted along the specular direction. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations confirm the simultaneous generation of protons and high-order harmonics, which demonstrates the feasibility of applications requiring particle and radiation sources at once, effectively using the same laser and target.

Radiation pressure acceleration of protons to 93 MeV with circularly polarized petawatt laser pulses

“…Target. The ultrathin targets were made of a conjugated polymer, poly(9,9′-dioctylfluorence-cobenzothiadiazole) (F8BT) [31]. The composition ratio of hydrogen to carbon was 1.2:1.…”

Advanced strategies for ion acceleration using high-power lasers

“…This choice is made on the basis of available information on laser spot size and intensity distribution in Refs. [3,4,5,6,7,8,9] and allows accounting for different focusing optics and plasma mirror efficiencies as well as facilitating the comparison with theoretical models. The amount of energy in the laser spot is typically in the 20%-50% range of the total laser energy, and the values reported in Fig.1 b) and c) fall in the < 2 J range.…”

Strong field physics pursued with petawatt lasers

“…At the CoReLS, IBS, the RPA was clearly demonstrated by using its PW laser [96]. In the proton acceleration experiment, the scaling of maximum proton energy with laser intensity and polarization at an intensity range of 10 20 W/cm 2 was investigated by applying short, intense high-contrast laser pulses on thin F8BT polymer targets [97]. The resulting spectra for protons and ions are shown in Fig.…”