Enhancing laser-driven proton acceleration by using micro-pillar arrays at high drive energy

Khaghani, Dimitri; Lobet, Mathieu; Borm, B.; Burr, Loïc; Gärtner, Felix; Grémillet, L.; Movsesyan, Liana; Rosmej, O.; Toimil-Molares, María Eugenia; Wagner, F.; Neumayer, P.

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-11589-z

Cited by 50 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The electron density of the nanolayered gap n 2 = 0.7n c is counted as the averaged background electron density at the position x = 8 µm and the transverse range of y = (0.2, 0.8) µm. The velocity of the fast electrons is approximately assumed as v h c. Then the transverse distribution of self-generated magnetic fields can be obtained by using Equation (6). We can see that the simulation result is well consistent with the analysis result.…”

Section: Numerical Simulationsupporting

confidence: 70%

“…The interaction of relativistically intense laser pulses with solid targets has stimulated considerable interest because of its practical applications in laser-driven particle acceleration [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] , high-brightness ultrafast hard X-ray and K α source [8][9][10][11] , cancer treatment [12,13] , fast ignition in inertial confinement fusion [14] , etc. A crucial issue, in all these applications, is to produce high-quality forward hot electrons efficiently.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Generation mechanism of 100 MG magnetic fields in the interaction of ultra-intense laser pulse with nanostructured target

Tian

Cai

Zhang

et al. 2020

High Pow Laser Sci Eng

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Experimental and simulation data [Moreau et al., Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 62, 014013 (2019); Kaymak et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 035004 (2016)] indicate that self-generated magnetic fields play an important role in enhancing the flux and energy of relativistic electrons accelerated by ultra-intense laser pulse irradiation with nanostructured arrays. A fully relativistic analytical model for the generation of the magnetic field based on electron magneto-hydrodynamic description is presented here. The analytical model shows that this self-generated magnetic field originates in the nonparallel density gradient and fast electron current at the interfaces of a nanolayered target. A general formula for the self-generated magnetic field is found, which closely agrees with the simulation scaling over the relevant intensity range. The result is beneficial to the experimental designs for the interaction of the laser pulse with the nanostructured arrays to improve laser-to-electron energy coupling and the quality of forward hot electrons.

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Section: Numerical Simulationsupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generation mechanism of 100 MG magnetic fields in the interaction of ultra-intense laser pulse with nanostructured target

Tian

Cai

Zhang

et al. 2020

High Pow Laser Sci Eng

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“…The targets used in this study have a centre-to-centre distance so high that the electrons extracted from the shell-structures do not significantly interfere with the neighbouring hemispheres or prevent the laser pulse from propagating down to the bottom of the target. In the case of micro- 36 and nanowires 37 it was shown that for higher densities of the wires the surrounding gaps fill with plasma. Depending on the extent of the filling, this can either aid the absorption of laser light into hot electrons or leads to reflection of the incoming laser pulse if a critical density layer has been formed.…”

Section: Numerical Simulation and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boosted acceleration of protons by tailored ultra-thin foil targets

Kaymak

Aktan

Cerchez

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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We report on a detailed experimental and numerical study on the boosted acceleration of protons from ultra-thin hemispherical targets utilizing multi-Joule short-pulse laser-systems. For a laser intensity of 1 × 1020 W/cm2 and an on-target energy of only 1.3 J with this setup a proton cut-off energy of 8.5 MeV was achieved, which is a factor of 1.8 higher compared to a flat foil target of the same thickness. While a boost of the acceleration process by additionally injected electrons was observed for sophisticated targets at high-energy laser-systems before, our studies reveal that the process can be utilized over at least two orders of magnitude in intensity and is therefore suitable for a large number of nowadays existing laser-systems. We retrieved a cut-off energy of about 6.5 MeV of proton energy per Joule of incident laser energy, which is a noticeable enhancement with respect to previous results employing this mechanism. The approach presented here has the advantage of using structure-wise simple targets and being sustainable for numerous applications and high repetition rate demands at the same time.

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“…Moreover, the possibility to accelerate protons above 10 MeV using 2 × 10 18 W/cm 2 intensity, 500 fs pulse duration, and ultra‐high‐contrast pulses with a contrast level higher than 10 −10 was demonstrated by Khaghani et al, irradiating structured Cu micro‐pillar arrays standing on a micrometric Ag planar film.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Protons and carbon ions acceleration in the target‐normal‐sheath‐acceleration regime using low‐contrast fs laser and metal‐graphene targets

Torrisi

Cutroneo

Torrisi

2019

Contributions to Plasma Physics

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fs pulsed lasers at an intensity of the order of 10 18 W/cm 2 , with a contrast of 10 −5 , were employed to irradiate thin foils to study the target-normal-sheath-acceleration (TNSA) regime. The forward ion acceleration was investigated using 1/11 μm thickness foils composed of a metallic sheet on which a thin reduced graphene oxide film with 10 nm thickness was deposited by single or both faces. The forward-accelerated ions were detected using SiC semiconductors connected in time-of-flight configuration. The use of intense and long pre-pulse generating the low contrast does not permit to accelerate protons above 1 MeV because it produces a pre-plasma destroying the foil, and the successive main laser pulse interacts with the expanding plasma and not with the overdense solid surface. Experimental results demonstrated that the maximum proton energies of about 700 keV and of 4.2 MeV carbon ions and higher were obtained under the condition of the optimal acceleration procedure. The measurements of ion energy and charge states confirm that the acceleration per charge state is measurable from the proton energy, confirming the Coulomb-Boltzmann-shifted theoretical model. However, heavy ions cannot be accelerated due to their mass and low velocity, which does not permit them to be subjected to the fast and high developed electric field driving the light-ion acceleration.The ion acceleration can be optimized based on the laser focal positioning and on the foil thickness, composition, and structure, as it will be presented and discussed.

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Enhancing laser-driven proton acceleration by using micro-pillar arrays at high drive energy

Cited by 50 publications

References 31 publications

Generation mechanism of 100 MG magnetic fields in the interaction of ultra-intense laser pulse with nanostructured target

Generation mechanism of 100 MG magnetic fields in the interaction of ultra-intense laser pulse with nanostructured target

Boosted acceleration of protons by tailored ultra-thin foil targets

Protons and carbon ions acceleration in the target‐normal‐sheath‐acceleration regime using low‐contrast fs laser and metal‐graphene targets

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