A gas-dynamical approach to radiation pressure acceleration

Abstract

The study of high intensity ion beams driven by high power pulsed lasers is an active field of research. Of particular interest is the radiation pressure acceleration, for which simulations predict narrow band ion energies up to GeV. We derive a laser-piston model by applying techniques for non-relativistic gas-dynamics. The model reveals a laser intensity limit, below which sufficient laser-piston acceleration is impossible. The relation between target thickness and piston velocity as a function of the laser pulse length yields an approximation for the permissible target thickness. We performed one-dimensional Particle-In-Cell simulations to confirm the predictions of the analytical model. These simulations also reveal the importance of electromagnetic energy transport. We find that this energy transport limits the achievable compression and rarefies the plasma.