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Comparison of femtosecond laser-driven proton acceleration using nanometer and micrometer thick target foils

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2011

M. Schnürer ,
A.A. Andreev ,
S. Steinke ,
T. Sokollik ,
T. Paasch-Colberg ,
P.V. Nickles ,
A. Henig ,
D. Jung ,
D. Kiefer  and
R. Hörlein
...Show all authors
M. Schnürer*
Affiliation:
Max-Born-Institut, Berlin, Germany
A.A. Andreev
Affiliation:
Max-Born-Institut, Berlin, Germany STC “Vavilov State Optical Institute,”St. Petersburg, Russia
S. Steinke
Affiliation:
Max-Born-Institut, Berlin, Germany
T. Sokollik
Affiliation:
Max-Born-Institut, Berlin, Germany Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California University of California, Berkeley, California
T. Paasch-Colberg
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany
P.V. Nickles
Affiliation:
Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, GIST, Republic of Korea
A. Henig
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany Department für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Garching, Germany
D. Jung
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany Department für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Garching, Germany
D. Kiefer
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany Department für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Garching, Germany
R. Hörlein
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany Department für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Garching, Germany
J. Schreiber
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany Department für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Garching, Germany
T. Tajima
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany Photomedical Research Center, JAEA, Kyoto, Japan
D. Habs
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany Department für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Garching, Germany
W. Sandner
Affiliation:
Max-Born-Institut, Berlin, Germany Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Matthias Schnürer, Max-Born-Institut, Max-Born-Straße 2a, 12489 Berlin, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Advancement of ion acceleration by intense laser pulses is studied with ultra-thin nanometer-thick diamond like carbon and micrometer-thick Titanium target foils. Both investigations aim at optimizing the electron density distribution which is the key for efficient laser driven ion acceleration. While recently found maximum ion energies achieved with ultra-thin foils mark record values micrometer thick foils are flexible in terms of atomic constituents. Electron recirculation is one prerequisite for the validity of a very simple model that can approximate the dependence of ion energies of nanometer-thick targets when all electrons of the irradiated target area interact coherently with the laser pulse and Coherent Acceleration of Ions by Laser pulses (CAIL) becomes dominant. Complementary experiments, an analytical model and particle in cell computer simulations show, that with regard to ultra-short laser pulses (duration ~45 fs at intensities up to 5 × 1019 W/cm2) and a micrometer-thick target foil with higher atomic number a close to linear increase of ion energies manifests in a certain range of laser intensities.

Keywords

Coherent acceleration of ions by laser pulsesLaser ion accelerationRadiation pressureRelativistic laser intensityTarget normal sheath acceleration
Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , December 2011 , pp. 437 - 446
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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