Improvement of proton beam quality by an optimized dragging field generated by the ultraintense laser interactions with a complex double-layer target

Abstract

A scheme for the improvement of proton beam quality by the optimized dragging field from the interaction of ultraintense laser pulse with a complex double-layer target is proposed and demonstrated by one-dimensional particle-in-cell (Opic1D) simulations. The complex double-layer target consists of an overdense proton thin foil followed by a mixed hydrocarbon (CH) underdense plasma. Because of the existence of carbon ions, the dragging field in the mixed CH underdense plasma becomes stronger and flatter in the location of the proton beam than that in a pure hydrogen (H) underdense plasma. The optimized dragging field can keep trapping and accelerating protons in the mixed CH underdense target to high quality. Consequently, the energy spread of the proton beam in the mixed CH underdense plasma can be greatly reduced down to 2.6% and average energy of protons can reach to 9 GeV with circularly polarized lasers at intensities 2.74 × 1022 W/cm2.

Enhanced long-distance transport of periodic electron beams in an advanced double layer cone-channel target

“…© 2018 Author (s) In recent years, the laser-plasma interactions have been developing rapidly with the advance in the laser technology. The generation and transportation of fast electrons in dense plasmas have attracted much attention due to the potential applications in the fast ignition (FI) of inertial confinement fusion (ICF), 1,2 ion acceleration, [3][4][5] and laboratory astrophysics, 6 and so on. In order to fulfill these applications, it is critical to not only generate but also control such beams appropriately, such as collimating and guiding them over certain distances.…”