Abstract
We report experimental results on the effects of laser contrast on beam divergence and energy spectrum of protons emitted from ultrashort intense laser interactions with normal large foils and transverse-size-reduced targets. Correlations between beam divergence and spectral shape are found. Large divergence and near-plateau shape energy spectrum are observed for both types of targets when the laser pulse contrast is low. With high contrast laser irradiation, proton beam divergence is remarkably reduced and the energy spectral shape is changed to exponential for large foil targets. In comparison, a similar large divergence and the near-plateau spectral shape remain for transverse-size-reduced targets. The results could be explained by the preplasma formation and target deformation at different laser contrasts and modified accelerating sheath field evolution in transverse-size-reduced target, which were supported by the 2D hydrodynamic and PIC simulations.
Published Version
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