The laser proton acceleration in the strong charge separation regime

Optimization of relativistic laser–ion acceleration

“…A large number of experimental results on laser-driven ion acceleration are now available [7,29,[57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70] , which can be used for a comparison with theoretical predictions. TNSA has been extensively studied numerically using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations [71][72][73][74][75] .…”

Proton acceleration to 40 MeV using a high intensity, high contrast optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification/Ti:sapphire hybrid laser system

“…For thick (hundred micrometer) solid density targets and long (100 fs) terawatt (TW)-PW laser pulses, protons are accelerated by the target normal sheath [2,6]. For thinner (micrometer down to nanometer scale) targets and high-contrast laser pulses with intensity <10 22 W∕ cm 2 , acceleration occurs in the regime of strong charge separation [7,8] or Coulomb explosion, where the maximum proton energy depends on laser power as E p ≈ η 230 MeV PPW 1∕ 2 for optimum targets [9,10]; here η is the portion of electrons expelled from the target by the laser pulse. With higher intensity, the radiation pressure dominates in acceleration [11].…”

Acceleration of highly charged GeV Fe ions from a low-Z substrate by intense femtosecond laser

“…7(b) and 7(c), in the strong charge separation regime. 33,34 Later, in the following 100 fs, the ions acquire additional energy moving in the expanding cloud of electrons, in the regime close to target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA). 35,36 The amount of laser reflection in the specular direction and the Fe ion spectra are in agreement with the experimental findings.…”