Efficient ion acceleration and dense electron-positron plasma creation in ultra-high intensity laser-solid interactions
Plasma Physics
2018-03-28 v2
Abstract
The radiation pressure of next generation ultra-high intensity ( W/cm) lasers could efficiently accelerate ions to GeV energies. However, nonlinear quantum-electrodynamic effects play an important role in the interaction of these laser pulses with matter. Here we show that these effects may lead to the production of an extremely dense ( cm) pair-plasma which absorbs the laser pulse consequently reducing the accelerated ion energy and energy conversion efficiency by up to 30-50\% \& 50-65\%, respectively. Thus we identify the regimes of laser-matter interaction where either ions are efficiently accelerated or dense pair-plasmas are produced as a guide for future experiments.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1706.04153,
title = {Efficient ion acceleration and dense electron-positron plasma creation in ultra-high intensity laser-solid interactions},
author = {D. Del Sorbo and D. R. Blackman and R. Capdessus and K. Small and C. Slade-Lowther and W. Luo and M. J. Duff and A. P. L. Robinson and P. McKenna and Z. -M. Sheng and J. Pasley and C. P. Ridgers},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1706.04153},
year = {2018}
}