Related papers: Ion acceleration by superintense laser-plasma inte…
We examine ion acceleration by irradiating a hundred TW laser pulse on a double-layer target. It is shown analytically and by three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that higher energy protons are obtained by using material with a…
Cancer therapy using protons and heavier ions such as carbon has demonstrated advantages over other radiotherapy treatments. To bring about the next generation of clinical facilities, the requirements are likely to reduce the footprint,…
Laser-plasma accelerators offer a compact means of producing high-energy electron beams, but their performance is fundamentally limited by dephasing between the accelerated electrons and the plasma wave. To overcome this limitation, we…
Fundamental to many applications of laser pulses in science and technology is an extended interaction length with matter that significantly exceeds the distance over which the pulse would normally diffract and transversely spread. At low…
The interaction of ultrashort, high intensity laser pulses with thin foil targets leads to ion acceleration on the target rear surface. To make this ion source useful for applications, it is important to optimize the transfer of energy from…
The accelerating gradients in conventional linear accelerators are currently limited to 100 MV per meter. Plasma-based accelerators have the ability to sustain accelerating gradients which are several orders of magnitude greater than that…
A hollow cylindrical micron-scale structure is proposed to enhance and manipulate the laser plasma interaction. It is shown through 3-D particle-in-cell simulations that the incident laser pulse intensity is enhanced within the tube. A…
While laser-plasma accelerators have demonstrated a strong potential in the acceleration of electrons up to giga-electronvolt energies, few experimental tools for studying the acceleration physics have been developed. In this paper, we…
The laser-driven acceleration of high quality proton beams from a double-layer target, comprised of a high-Z ion layer and a thin disk of hydrogen, is investigated with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations in the case of oblique…
In this paper we discuss design considerations and beam dynamics challenges associated with laser-driven plasma-based accelerators as applied to multi-TeV-scale linear colliders. Plasma accelerators provide ultra-high gradients and…
The ionization dynamic of argon plasma irradiated by an intense laser is investigated to understand transient physics in dynamic systems. This study demonstrates that significant delayed ionization responses and stepwise ionization…
The production of polarized proton beams with multi-GeV energies in ultra-intense laser interaction with targets is studied with three-dimensional Particle-In-Cell simulations. A near-critical density plasma target with pre-polarized proton…
Laser pulses of extreme intensities ($I>10^{22}~ \mathrm{W/cm^2}$) are about to become available in the laboratory. The prepulse of such a laser can induce a plasma expansion that generates a low-density channel in near-critical gas jets.…
Self-guided femtosecond laser pulses propagating in low-pressure gas can generate plasma filaments, establishing a new framework for plasma wakefield acceleration. Unlike conventional schemes relying on mechanically confined or preformed…
A kinetic model for the shock acceleration of ions in laser-produced plasmas is developed. A fraction of the warm ions are accelerated by the large amplitude monotonic potential of the double layer created due the plasma compression and…
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…
The excitation of nonlinear electrostatic waves, such as shock and solitons, by ultraintense laser interaction with overdense plasmas and related ion acceleration are investigated by numerical simulations. Stability of solitons and…
A regime of multi-cascade proton acceleration in the interaction of $10^{21}-10^{22}$ W/cm$^2$ laser pulse with a structured target is proposed. The regime is based on the electron charge displacement under the action of laser ponderomotive…
It is observed that the interaction of an intense ultra-short laser pulse with an overdense gas jet results in the pulse collapse and the deposition of a significant part of energy in a small and well localized volume in the rising part of…
Laser excitation of nanometer-sized atomic and molecular clusters offers various opportunities to explore and control ultrafast many-particle dynamics. Whereas weak laser fields allow the analysis of photoionization, excited-state…