Related papers: Laser ion acceleration from concave targets by sub…
A new, maximum proton energy, $e$, scaling law with the laser pulse energy, $E_L$ has been derived from the results of 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Utilizing numerical modelling, protons are accelerated during interactions of the…
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…
The generation of compact, high-energy ion beams is one of the most promising applications of intense laser-matter interactions, but the control of the beam spectral quality remains an outstanding challenge. We show that in radiation…
We present an experimental demonstration of the efficient acceleration of electrons beyond 60 MeV using micro-channel plasma targets. We employed a high-contrast, 2.5 J, 32 fs short pulse laser interacting with a 5 \mu m inner diameter, 300…
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…
We report on experimental investigations of proton acceleration from solid foils irradiated with PW-class laser-pulses, where highest proton cut-off energies were achieved for temporal pulse parameters that varied significantly from those…
The interaction of an intense laser pulse with a solid target produces energetic proton and ion beams through the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) mechanism. Such beams are under active investigation for applications in proton beam…
The interaction of high intensity laser radiation with mass-limited target exhibits significant enhancement of the ion acceleration when the target is surrounded by an underdense plasma corona, as seen in numerical simulations. The…
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…
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…
We present an efficient method to produce laser-triggered proton pulses well below 500 ps pulse width at keV energies. We use femtosecond photoelectron pulses emitted from a cathode to enable ultrafast electron-stimulated desorption of…
Experimental results, supported by precise modelling, demonstrate optimisation of a plasma-based injector with intermediate laser pulse energy ($<1$ J), corresponding to a normalised vector potential $a_0 = 2.15$, using ionisation injection…
We study proton acceleration from a foil target with a transversely varying density using multi-dimensional Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations. In order to reduce electron heating and deformation of the target, circularly polarized Gaussian…
The acceleration of ions in the interaction of circular polarized laser pulses with overdense plasmas is investigated. For circular polarization laser pulses, the quasi-equilibrium for electrons is established due to the light pressure and…
Particle acceleration in microstructures driven by ultrafast solid state lasers is a rapidly evolving area of advanced accelerator research, leading to a variety of concepts based on planar-symmetric dielectric gratings, hollow core fibers,…
The influence of laser frequency on laser-driven ion acceleration is investigated by means of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. When ultrashort intense laser pulse at higher harmonic frequency irradiates a thin solid foil, the…
Proton beams with up to 100 pC bunch charge, 0.48 MeV cut-off energy and divergence as low as a $3^{\circ}$ were generated from solid targets at kHz repetition rate by a few-mJ femtosecond laser under controlled plasma conditions. The beam…
Ion acceleration from gaseous targets driven by relativistic-intensity lasers was demonstrated as early as the late 90s, yet most of the experiments conducted to date have involved picosecond-duration, Nd:glass lasers operating at low…
Enhancing the conversion efficiency and maximum energy of laser-driven ion beams is a critical challenge for applications in hadron therapy and high-energy density physics. In this work, we present a comprehensive two-dimensional…
The ion beam bunching in a cascaded target normal sheath acceleration is investigated by theoretical analysis and particle-in-cell simulations. It is found that a proton beam can be accelerated and bunched simultaneously by injecting it…