Radiation pressure acceleration of protons to 93 MeV with circularly polarized petawatt laser pulses

The radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) of charged particles has been a challenging task in laser-driven proton/ion acceleration due to its stringent requirements in laser and target conditions. The realization of radiation-pressure-driven proton acceleration requires irradiating ultrathin targets...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physics of plasmas 2016-07, Vol.23 (7)
Main Authors: Kim, I. Jong, Pae, Ki Hong, Choi, Il Woo, Lee, Chang-Lyoul, Kim, Hyung Taek, Singhal, Himanshu, Sung, Jae Hee, Lee, Seong Ku, Lee, Hwang Woon, Nickles, Peter V., Jeong, Tae Moon, Kim, Chul Min, Nam, Chang Hee
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acceleration
Charged particles
Circular polarization
Dependence
Ion beams
Ion sources
Laser beams
Lasers
Particle beams
Particle in cell technique
Proton beams
Radiation pressure
Target thickness
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Summary:The radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) of charged particles has been a challenging task in laser-driven proton/ion acceleration due to its stringent requirements in laser and target conditions. The realization of radiation-pressure-driven proton acceleration requires irradiating ultrathin targets with an ultrahigh contrast and ultraintense laser pulses. We report the generation of 93-MeV proton beams achieved by applying 800-nm 30-fs circularly polarized laser pulses with an intensity of 6.1 × 10 20   W / cm 2 to 15-nm-thick polymer targets. The radiation pressure acceleration was confirmed from the obtained optimal target thickness, quadratic energy scaling, polarization dependence, and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We expect this clear demonstration of RPA to facilitate the realization of laser-driven proton/ion sources delivering energetic and short-pulse particle beams for novel applications.
ISSN:1070-664X
1089-7674
DOI:10.1063/1.4958654