Experimental investigation of hole boring and light sail regimes of RPA by varying laser and target parameters

Year: 2013

Authors: Kar S., Kakolee K.F., Cerchez M., Doria D., Macchi A., McKenna P., Neely D., Osterholz J., Quinn K., Ramakrishna B., Sarri G., Willi O., Yuan X.H., Zepf M., Borghesi M.

Autors Affiliation: Centre for Plasma Physics, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen\’s University Belfast, BT7 1NN,UK; Institut für Laser-und Plasmaphysik, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf, Germany; CNR, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Research unit \’Adriano Gozzini\’, via G. Moruzzi 1, 56127, Pisa, Italy; Department of Physics \’Enrico Fermi\’, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy; Department of Physics, SUPA, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NG, UK; Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, OX11 0QX, Oxon UK; Helmholtz Institut Jena, D-07743 Jena, Germany; Institute of Physics of the ASCR, ELI-Beamlines Project, Na Slovance 2, 18221 Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract: Temporal evolution of plasma jets from micrometre-scale thick foils following the interaction of intense (3 x 10(20) W cm(-2)) laser pulses is studied systematically by time resolved optical interferometry. The fluid velocity in the plasma jets is determined by comparing the data with 2D hydrodynamic simulation, which agrees with the expected hole-boring (HB) velocity due to the laser radiation pressure. The homogeneity of the plasma density across the jets has been found to be improved substantially when irradiating the laser at circular polarization compared to linear polarization. While overdense plasma jets were formed efficiently for micrometre thick targets, decreasing the target areal density and/or increasing the irradiance on the target have provided indication of transition from the ´HB´ to the ´light sail (LS)´ regime of RPA, characterized by the appearance of narrow-band spectral features at several MeV/nucleon in proton and carbon spectra.

Journal/Review: PLASMA PHYSICS AND CONTROLLED FUSION

Volume: 55 (12)      Pages from: 124030  to: 124030

KeyWords: laser acceleration of proton beams; radiation pressure acceleration;
DOI: 10.1088/0741-3335/55/12/124030

Citations: 10
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