J. H. Bin,
M. Yeung,
Z. Gong,
H. Y. Wang,
C. Kreuzer,
M. L. Zhou,
M. J. V. Streeter,
P. S. Foster,
S. Cousens,
B. Dromey,
J. Meyer-ter-Vehn,
M. Zepf,
and J. Schreiber
Enhanced Laser-Driven Ion Acceleration by Superponderomotive Electrons Generated from Near-Critical-Density Plasma
Phys. Rev. Lett., 120 :074801 (February 2018)
Enhanced Laser-Driven Ion Acceleration by Superponderomotive Electrons Generated from Near-Critical-Density Plasma
Phys. Rev. Lett., 120 :074801 (February 2018)
Abstract:
We report on the experimental studies of laser driven ion acceleration from a double-layer target where a near-critical density target with a few-micron thickness is coated in front of a nanometer-thin diamondlike carbon foil. A significant enhancement of proton maximum energies from 12 to ∼30 MeV is observed when a relativistic laser pulse impinges on the double-layer target under linear polarization. We attributed the enhanced acceleration to superponderomotive electrons that were simultaneously measured in the experiments with energies far beyond the free-electron ponderomotive limit. Our interpretation is supported by two-dimensional simulation results.