Related papers: High-Energy and High-Quality Ion beams in Light Sa…
Laser-driven ion acceleration provides ultra-short, high-charge, low-emittance beams, which are desirable for a wide range of high-impact applications. Yet after decades of research, a significant increase in maximum ion energy is still…
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…
Ion acceleration using a laser pulse irradiating a thin disk target is examined using three-dimensional and two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. A laser pulse of $620$ TW, with an intensity of $5\times 10^{21}$ W/cm$^{2}$ and a…
A short overview of laser-plasma acceleration of ions is presented. The focus is on some recent experimental results and related theoretical work on advanced regimes. These latter include in particular target normal sheath acceleration…
In the ion acceleration by radiation pressure a transverse inhomogeneity of the electromagnetic pulse results in the displacement of the irradiated target in the off-axis direction limiting achievable ion energy. This effect is described…
This research demonstrates high-repetition-rate laser-accelerated ion beams via dual, intersecting, counterpropagating laser-driven blast waves to precisely shape underdense gas into long-lived near-critical density targets. The collision…
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…
Multi-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are used to study the generation of electrostatic shocks in plasma and the reflection of background ions to produce high-quality and high-energy ion beams. Electrostatic shocks are driven by…
Ion beam has been used in cancer treatment, and has a unique preferable feature to deposit its main energy inside a human body so that cancer cell could be killed by the ion beam. However, conventional ion accelerator tends to be huge in…
Ultra-intense lasers produce and manipulate plasmas, allowing to locally generate extremely high static and electromagnetic fields. This Letter presents a concept of an ultra-intense optical tweezer, where two counter-propagating circularly…
A method is proposed for producing monoergetic, high-quality ion beams in vacuum, via direct acceleration by the electromagnetic field of two counterpropagating, variable-frequency lasers: ions are trapped and accelerated by a beat-wave…
We present the experimental results on ion acceleration by petawatt femtosecond laser solid interaction and explore strategies to enhance ion energy. The irradiation of micrometer thick (0.2 - 6.0 micron) Al foils with a virtually…
The robustness of a structured collimation device is discussed for an intense-laser-produced ion beam. In this paper the ion beam collimation is realized by the solid structured collimation device, which produces the transverse electric…
The electromagnetic radiation pressure becomes dominant in the interaction of the ultra-intense electromagnetic wave with a solid material, thus the wave energy can be transformed efficiently into the energy of ions representing the…
Ultra-intense lasers that ionize and accelerate electrons in solids to near the speed of light can lead to kinetic instabilities that alter the laser absorption and subsequent electron transport, isochoric heating, and ion acceleration.…
Energetic ions have been observed since the very first laser-plasma experiments.Their origin was found to be the charge separation of electrons heated by thelaser, which transfers energy to the ions accelerated in the field. The adventof…
High energy ion beams (> MeV) generated by intense laser pulses promise to be viable alternatives to conventional ion beam sources due to their unique properties such as high charge, low emittance, compactness and ease of beam delivery.…
We report stable laser-driven proton beam acceleration from ultrathin foils consisting of two ion species: heavier carbon ions and lighter protons. Multi-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations show that the radiation pressure leads…
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…
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…