Related papers: Laser ion acceleration using a solid target couple…

Understanding the target dynamics during its interaction with a relativistic ultrashort laser pulse is a challenging fundamental multi-physics problem involving at least atomic and solid-state physics, plasma physics, and laser physics.…

A new type of proton acceleration stemming from large-scale gradients, low-density targets, irradiated by an intense near-infrared laser is observed. The produced protons are characterized by high-energies (with a broad spectrum), are…

Laser-driven ion accelerators have the advantages of compact size, high density, and short bunch duration over conventional accelerators. Nevertheless, it is still challenging to simultaneously enhance the yield and quality of laser-driven…

Laser ion acceleration is a promising concept for generation of fast ions using a compact laser-solid interaction setup. In this study, we theoretically investigate the feasibility of ion acceleration from the interaction of petawatt-scale…

Proton acceleration by high-intensity laser pulses from ultra-thin foils for hadron therapy is discussed. With the improvement of the laser intensity contrast ratio to 10-11 achieved on Hercules laser at the University of Michigan, it…

A superintense laser pulse illuminating a thin solid-density foil can, in principle, accelerate the entire foil, therefore yielding dense, collimated, and quasi-monoenergetic ion beams. These unique features render radiation pressure…

An experimental investigation of collisionless shock ion acceleration is presented using a multicomponent plasma and a high-intensity picosecond duration laser pulse. Protons are the only accelerated ions when a near-critical-density plasma…

Laser plasma interaction with micro-engineered targets at relativistic intensities has been greatly promoted by recent progress in the high contrast lasers and the manufacture of advanced micro- and nano-structures. This opens new…

Collisionless shock acceleration of protons and C$^{6+}$ ions has been achieved by the interaction of a 10$^{20}$ W/cm$^2$, 1 $\mu$m laser with a near-critical density plasma. Ablation of the initially solid density target by a secondary…

Experiments were performed to study electron acceleration by intense sub-picosecond laser pulses propagating in sub-mm long plasmas of near critical electron density (NCD). Low density foam layers of 300-500 um thickness were used as…

We propose a scheme to overcome the great challenge of polarization loss in spin-polarized ion acceleration. When a petawatt laser pulse penetrates through a compound plasma target consisting of a double layer slab and prepolarized hydrogen…

The essay gives an overview on researches in the field of laser ion acceleration, focusing on two types of targets. There are many types of targets while they can all be divided into targets that apply single ion or multiple ions. Mixed…

A scenario for the enhanced laser-driven ion acceleration from a thin solid target at high laser intensity is considered, where the target is enclosed in a reflecting cavity. The laser pulse reflected from the target is redirected towards…

The radiation pressure of next generation ultra-high intensity ($>10^{23}$ W/cm$^{2}$) lasers could efficiently accelerate ions to GeV energies. However, nonlinear quantum-electrodynamic effects play an important role in the interaction of…

Laser-plasma accelerators represent a promising technology for future compact accelerating systems, enabling the acceleration of tens of pC to above $1\,$GeV over just a few centimeters. Nonetheless, these devices currently lack the…

Direct laser acceleration has proven to be an efficient source of high-charge electron bunches and high brilliance X-rays. However, an analytical description of the acceleration in the interaction with varying plasma density targets is…

Particle acceleration using ultraintense, ultrashort laser pulses is one of the most attractive topics in relativistic laser-plasma research. We report proton/ion acceleration in the intensity range of 5x1019 W/cm2 to 3.3x1020 W/cm2 by…

An overview of research on laser-plasma based acceleration of ions is given. The experimental state of the art is summarized and recent progress is discussed. The basic acceleration processes are briefly reviewed with an outlook on hybrid…

The dynamics of the acceleration of ultrathin foil targets by the radiation pressure of superintense, circularly polarized laser pulses is investigated by analytical modeling and particle-in-cell simulations. By addressing self-induced…

We report the experimental generation of highly energetic carbon ions up to 48 MeV per nucleon by shooting double-layer targets composed of well-controlled slightly underdense plasma (SUP) and ultrathin foils with ultra-intense femtosecond…