Related papers: "Light Sail" Acceleration Revisited
A spacecraft pushed by radiation has the major advantage that the power source is not included in the accelerated mass, making it the preferred technique for reaching relativistic speeds. There are two main technical challenges. First, to…
In laser-wakefield acceleration, an ultra-intense laser pulse is focused into an underdense plasma in order to accelerate electrons to relativistic velocities. In most cases, the pulses consist of multiple optical cycles and the interaction…
When a finite contrast petawatt laser pulse irradiates a micron-thick foil, a prepulse (including amplified spontaneous emission) creates a preplasma, where an ultrashort relativistically strong portion of the laser pulse (the main pulse)…
We review recent PIC simulation results which show that double-sided irradiation of a thin over- dense plasma slab by ultra-intense laser pulses from both sides can lead to sustained comoving acceleration of surface electrons to energies…
A high-intensity laser pulse propagating through a medium triggers an ionization front that can accelerate and frequency-upshift the photons of a second pulse. The maximum upshift is ultimately limited by the accelerated photons outpacing…
Recent experimental and theoretical results have demonstrated the possibility of accelerating electrons in the MeV range by focusing tightly a few-cycle laser beam in ambient air. Using Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations, this configuration…
The extreme electric fields created in high-intensity laser-plasma interactions could generate energetic ions far more compactly than traditional accelerators. Despite this promise, laser-plasma accelerators have remained stagnant at…
In laser-solid interactions, electrons may be generated and subsequently accelerated to energies of the order-of-magnitude of the ponderomotive limit, with the underlying process dominated by direct laser acceleration. Breaking this limit,…
High frequency modulations appearing in the kinetic energy distribution of laser accelerated ions are proposed for retrieving the acceleration field dynamics at femtosecond time scale. Such an approach becomes possible if the laser-cycling…
Using a kilojoule class laser, we demonstrate for the first time that high-contrast picosecond pulses are advantageous for ion acceleration. We show that a laser pulse with optimum duration and a large focal spot accelerates electrons…
We study transverse and longitudinal electron heating effects on the target stability and the ion spectra in the radiation pressure dominated regime of ion acceleration by means of multi dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations.…
Self-trapping and acceleration of ions in laser-driven relativistically transparent plasma are investigated with the help of particle-in-cell simulations. A theoretical model based on ion wave breaking is established in describing ion…
Microwave propelled sails are a new class of spacecraft using photon acceleration. It is the only method of interstellar flight that has no physics issues. Laboratory demonstrations of basic features of beam-driven propulsion, flight,…
Theoretical study of heavy ion acceleration from an ultrathin (20 nm) gold foil irradiated by sub-picosecond lasers is presented. Using two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations we identified two highly efficient ion acceleration…
Direct laser acceleration of electrons in ion channels is investigated in a general case when the laser phase velocity is greater than (or equal to) the speed of light. Using the similarity of the equations of motion for ultra-relativistic…
Using particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate an improvement of the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) of protons in non-periodically nanostructured targets with micron-scale thickness. Compared to standard flat foils, an…
We study the onset of electron heating in intense laser-solid interactions and its impact on the spectral quality of radiation pressure accelerated ions in both hole boring and light sail regimes. Two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell…
We demonstrate laser-plasma acceleration of high charge electron beams to the ~10 MeV scale using ultrashort laser pulses with as little energy as 10 mJ. This result is made possible by an extremely dense and thin hydrogen gas jet. Total…
Propagation of ultrarelativistically intense laser pulse in a self-trapping mode in a near critical density plasma makes it possible to produce electron bunches of extreme parameters appropriate for different state of art applications.…
Optimizing laser and plasma parameters is crucial for enhancing accelerated proton energy in laser-driven proton acceleration with finite laser energy for applications such as cancer therapy. Tight focusing plays a significant role in…