Optimal collimation of proton beams accelerated by a Laguerre–Gaussian laser with a proper pulse duration

Abstract

In this study, three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations were conducted to evaluate a collimated proton beam accelerated by an intense Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) laser with different pulse durations. The flux and energy of the collimated proton beam could be simultaneously enhanced by selecting an optimal pulse duration. This phenomenon can be primarily attributed to the correlation between the LG laser driven self-generated magnetic field and pulse duration, and this correlation enables the collimation of protons during their interaction and transport. The results obtained in this study elucidate the formation mechanism of different collimated proton patterns, driven by femtosecond and picosecond LG lasers, observed in previous experiments. In addition, based on these results, an optimum pulse duration for high-quality proton beams is proposed for various future applications.