Laser-driven shock acceleration of ion beams from spherical mass-limited targets
We report on experimental studies of ion acceleration from spherical targets of diameter 15 microm irradiated by ultraintense (1x10(20) W/cm2) pulses from a 20-TW Ti:sapphire laser system. A highly directed proton beam with plateau-shaped spectrum extending to energies up to 8 MeV is observed in the...
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Published in | Physical review letters Vol. 102; no. 9; p. 095002 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
06.03.2009
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Online Access | Get more information |
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Summary: | We report on experimental studies of ion acceleration from spherical targets of diameter 15 microm irradiated by ultraintense (1x10(20) W/cm2) pulses from a 20-TW Ti:sapphire laser system. A highly directed proton beam with plateau-shaped spectrum extending to energies up to 8 MeV is observed in the laser propagation direction. This beam arises from acceleration in a converging shock launched by the laser, which is confirmed by 3-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The temporal evolution of the shock-front curvature shows excellent agreement with a two-dimensional radiation pressure model. |
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ISSN: | 0031-9007 |
DOI: | 10.1103/physrevlett.102.095002 |