Effects of front surface plasma expansion on proton acceleration in ultraintense laser irradiation of foil targets

P. McKenna, D.C. Carroll, O. Lundh, F. Nurnberg, Keith Markey, S. Bandyopadhyay, D. Batani, R.G. Evans, R. Jafer, Satyabrata Kar, D. Neely, D. Pepler, M.N. Quinn, R. Redaelli, M. Roth, C.G. Wahlstrom, X.H. Yuan, Matthew Zepf

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

111 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The properties of beams of high energy protons accelerated during ultraintense, picosecond laser-irradiation of thin foil targets are investigated as a function of preplasma expansion at the target front surface. Significant enhancement in the maximum proton energy and laser-to-proton energy conversion efficiency is observed at optimum preplasma density gradients due, to self-focusing Of the incident laser pulse. For very long preplasma expansion, the propagating laser pulse is observed to filament, resulting in highly uniform proton beams, but with reduced flux and maximum energy.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)591-596
Number of pages6
JournalLaser And Particle Beams
Volume26
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2008

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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