Light Sail Acceleration Reexamined
Year: 2009
Authors: Macchi A., Veghini S., Pegoraro F.
Autors Affiliation: CNR/INFM/polyLAB, Pisa, Italy;
Dipartimento di Fisica “Enrico Fermi”, Università di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy
Abstract: The dynamics of the acceleration of ultrathin foil targets by the radiation pressure of superintense, circularly polarized laser pulses is investigated by analytical modeling and particle-in-cell simulations. By addressing self-induced transparency and charge separation effects, it is shown that for \”optimal\” values of the foil thickness only a thin layer at the rear side is accelerated by radiation pressure. The simple “light sail” model gives a good estimate of the energy per nucleon, but overestimates the conversion efficiency of laser energy into monoenergetic ions.
Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
Volume: 103 (8) Pages from: 085003-1 to: 085003-4
More Information: Support from CNR via a RSTL project and use of supercomputing facilities at CINECA ( Bologna, Italy) sponsored by the CNR/INFM supercomputing initiative are acknowledged.DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.085003ImpactFactor: 7.328Citations: 299data from “WEB OF SCIENCE” (of Thomson Reuters) are update at: 2024-12-08References taken from IsiWeb of Knowledge: (subscribers only)Connecting to view paper tab on IsiWeb: Click hereConnecting to view citations from IsiWeb: Click here