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High quality GeV proton beams from a density-modulated foil target

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2009

T.P. Yu ,
M. Chen  and
A. Pukhov
T.P. Yu
Affiliation:
Institut für Theoretische Physik I, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany Department of Physics, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, China
M. Chen
Affiliation:
Institut für Theoretische Physik I, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
A. Pukhov*
Affiliation:
Institut für Theoretische Physik I, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Alexander Pukhov, Institut für Theoretische Physik I, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

We study proton acceleration from a foil target with a transversely varying density using multi-dimensional Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations. In order to reduce electron heating and deformation of the target, circularly polarized Gaussian laser pulses at intensities on the order of 1022 Wcm−2 are used. It is shown that when the target density distribution fits that of the laser intensity profile, protons accelerated from the center part of the target have quasi-monoenergetic spectra and are well collimated. In our two-dimensional PIC simulations, the final peak energy can be up to 1.4 GeV with the full-width of half maximum divergence cone of less than 4°. We observe highly efficient energy conversion from the laser to the protons in the simulations.

Keywords

Circularly polarized laserPIC simulationQuasi-monoenergetic proton beam
Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , December 2009 , pp. 611 - 617
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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