Abstract
Using particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate ion acceleration in the interaction of high intensity lasers with plasmas which transition from opaque to transparent during the interaction process. We show that the highest ion energies are achieved when the laser traverses the target around the peak intensity and re-heats the electron population responsible for the plasma expansion, enhancing the corresponding sheath electric field. This process can lead to an increase of up to 2x in ion energy when compared with the standard Target Normal Sheath Acceleration in opaque targets under the same laser conditions. A theoretical model is developed to predict the optimal target areal density as a function of laser intensity and pulse duration. A systematic parametric scan for a wide range of target densities and thicknesses is performed in 1D, 2D and 3D and shown consistent with the theory and with recent experimental results. These results open the way for a better optimization of the ion energy in future laser–solid experiments.
Highlights
Advances in the development of intense short pulse lasers have led to exciting progress in plasma-based ion acceleration
We study laser ion acceleration in relativistic transparency regime where the target is initially opaque to the incident laser but becomes transparent due to fast plasma expansion driven by laser produced hot electrons
We show that when the laser crosses the target, the peak ion energy is boosted compared to conventional Target Normal SheathAcceleration (TNSA) where the target remains opaque throughout the interaction process
Summary
Advances in the development of intense short pulse lasers have led to exciting progress in plasma-based ion acceleration. We study laser ion acceleration in relativistic transparency regime where the target is initially opaque to the incident laser but becomes transparent due to fast plasma expansion driven by laser produced hot electrons. We show that for a given laser there is an optimal electron arial density that will produce the highest ion energy in this regime. We show that when the laser crosses the target, the peak ion energy is boosted compared to conventional TNSA where the target remains opaque throughout the interaction process.
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