Quasi-monoenergetic Deuteron Acceleration via Boosted Coulomb Explosion by Reflected Picosecond Laser Pulse
Abstract
Generation of quasi-monoenergetic ions by intense laser is one of long-standing goals in laser-plasma physics. However, existing laser-driven ion acceleration schemes often produce broad energy spectra and limited control over ion species. Here we propose the acceleration mechanism, boosted Coulomb explosion, initiated by a standing wave, which is formed in a pre-expanded plasma by the interference between a continuously incoming main laser pulse and the pulse reflected by a solid target, where the pre-expanded plasma is formed from a thin layer on the solid target by a relatively strong pre-pulse. This mechanism produces a persistent Coulomb field on the target front side with field strengths on the order of TV/m for picoseconds. We experimentally demonstrate generation of quasi-monoenergetic deuterons up to 50 MeV using an in-situ DO-deposited target. Our results show that the peak energy can be tuned by the laser pulse duration.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2504.19789,
title = {Quasi-monoenergetic Deuteron Acceleration via Boosted Coulomb Explosion by Reflected Picosecond Laser Pulse},
author = {Tianyun Wei and Zechen Lan and Yasunobu Arikawa and Yanjun Gu and Takehito Hayakawa and Alessio Morace and Ryuya Yamada and Kohei Yamanoi and Koichi Honda and Masaki Kando and Nakanii Nobuhiko and Seyed Reza Mirfayzi and Sergei V. Bulanov and Akifumi Yogo},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.19789},
year = {2025}
}