Published on Physical Review ST, Accelerators and Beams the results of an experimental study on ultra-intense laser-solid interactions entitled “Role of resistivity gradient in laser-driven ion acceleration” by L.A. Gizzi et al., Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 14, 011301 (2011)”.
It was predicted that, when a fast electron beam with some angular spread is normally incident on a resistivity gradient, magnetic field generation can occur that can inhibit beam propagation [A. R. Bell et al., Phys. Rev. E 58, 2471 (1998)]. This effect can have consequences on the laser-driven ion acceleration. In the experiment reported here, we compare ion emission from laser irradiated coated and uncoated metal foils and we show that the ion beam from the coated target has a much smaller angular spread. Detailed hybrid numerical simulations confirm that the inhibition of fast electron transport through the resistivity gradient may explain the observed effect.
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