Recombination of Protons Accelerated by a High Intensity High Contrast Laser

Short pulse, high contrast, intense laser pulses incident onto a solid target are not known to generate fast neutral atoms. Experiments carried out to study the recombination of accelerated protons show a 200 times higher neutralization than expected. Fast neutral atoms can contribute to 80% of the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2018-09, Vol.121 (13), p.134801-134801, Article 134801
Main Authors: Tata, Sheroy, Mondal, Angana, Sarkar, Soubhik, Jha, Jagannath, Ved, Yash, Lad, Amit D, Colgan, James, Pasley, John, Krishnamurthy, M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Charge transfer
Electron-ion recombination
Electrons
Fast neutral atoms
Ion recombination
Neutral atoms
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Summary:Short pulse, high contrast, intense laser pulses incident onto a solid target are not known to generate fast neutral atoms. Experiments carried out to study the recombination of accelerated protons show a 200 times higher neutralization than expected. Fast neutral atoms can contribute to 80% of the fast particles at 10 keV, falling rapidly for higher energy. Conventional charge transfer and electron-ion recombination in a high density plasma plume near the target is unable to explain the neutralization. We present a model based on the copropagation of electrons and ions wherein recombination far away from the target surface accounts for the experimental measurements. A novel experimental verification of the model is also presented. This study provides insights into the closely linked dynamics of ions and electrons by which neutral atom formation is enhanced.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.134801