Abstract
Breaking the 100-MeV barrier for proton acceleration will help elucidate fundamental physics and advance practical applications from inertial confinement fusion to tumour therapy. Herein we propose a novel concept of bubble implosions. A bubble implosion combines micro-bubbles and ultraintense laser pulses of 1020–1022 W cm−2 to generate ultrahigh fields and relativistic protons. The bubble wall protons undergo volumetric acceleration toward the centre due to the spherically symmetric Coulomb force and the innermost protons accumulate at the centre with a density comparable to the interior of a white dwarf. Then an unprecedentedly high electric field is formed, which produces an energetic proton flash. Three-dimensional particle simulations confirm the robustness of Coulomb-imploded bubbles, which behave as nano-pulsars with repeated implosions and explosions to emit protons. Current technologies should be sufficient to experimentally verify concept of bubble implosions.
Highlights
Breaking the 100-MeV barrier for proton acceleration will help elucidate fundamental physics and advance practical applications from inertial confinement fusion to tumour therapy
Ion acceleration by intense lasers has been studied because the interaction between ultraintense ultrashort laser pulses and solid matter can produce energetic ions
The innermost ions continue to implode until they are unprecedentedly compressed to a nanometer scale such that their radial inward motion is stopped by the resulting outward electric field
Summary
Breaking the 100-MeV barrier for proton acceleration will help elucidate fundamental physics and advance practical applications from inertial confinement fusion to tumour therapy. Because of the essential difference in the electrons role, the bubble implosion results in, for example, an overwhelmingly higher compressed density of ions than
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