Generation of a quasi-monoenergetic high energy proton beam from a vacuum-sandwiched double layer target irradiated by an ultraintense laser pulse

Abstract

An acceleration mechanism to generate a high energy proton beam with a narrow energy spread in the laser-induced plasma acceleration of a proton beam is proposed; this mechanism employs two thin foils separated by a narrow vacuum gap. Instead of a thin sheath field at the plasma surfaces, it utilizes an electrostatic field formed in the bulk of the plasma. From a one-dimensional fluid analysis, it has been found that with an appropriate target thickness, protons on the front surface of the second layer can be fed into the plasma, in which the protons are accelerated by an electrostatic field built into the bulk of the plasma. This leads to a proton beam with higher energy and a narrower energy spread than those accelerated at the rear surface of the second layer. The acceleration mechanism is also verified by a two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. With a 27-fs long and 2×1019 W/cm2 intense laser pulse, a proton beam with an 18-MeV peak energy and a 35% energy spread is generated. The peak energy is higher than that from the rear surface of the second layer by a factor of 3.