Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-19T01:48:21.040Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Optimization of laser parameters for proton acceleration using double laser pulses in TNSA mechanism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2020

Saurabh Kumar
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi110007, India
Devki Nandan Gupta*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi110007, India
*
Author for correspondence: Devki Nandan Gupta, Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi110007, India. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

The energy of protons accelerated by ultra-intense lasers in the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) mechanism can be greatly enhanced by the laser parameter optimization. We propose to investigate the optimization of laser parameters for proton acceleration using double laser pulses in TNSA mechanism. The sheath field generation at the rear side of the target is significantly affected by the introduction of second laser pulse in TNSA mechanism, and consequently, the energy of the accelerated protons is also modified. The second laser pulse was introduced with different delays to study its impact on proton acceleration. Our study shows that the interplay of laser intensity and pulse duration of both laser pulses affects the proton acceleration. It was found that the proton maximum energy is the function of both laser intensity and pulse duration. A number of simulations have been performed to obtain maximum proton energy data under different combinations of laser intensity and pulse duration for the two laser pulses. The simulation results account for the underline physics for the proton bunch energy and the sheath field as a function of pulse intensity and pulse delay.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arber, TD, Bennett, K, Brady, CS, Lawrence-Douglas, A, Ramsay, MG, Sircombe, NJ, Gillies, P, Evans, RG, Schmitz, H, Bell, AR and Ridgers, CP (2015) Contemporary particle-in-cell approach to laser-plasma modelling. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 57, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brenner, CM, Robinson, APL, Markey, K, Scott, RHH, Gray, RJ, Rosinski, M, Deppert, O, Badziak, J, Batani, D, Davies, JR, Hassan, SM, Lancaster, KL, Li, K, Musgrave, IO, Norreys, PA, Pasley, J, Roth, M, Schlenvoigt, H-P, Spindloe, C, Tatarakis, M, Winstone, T, Wolowski, J, Wyatt, D, McKenna, P and Neely, D (2014) High energy conversion efficiency in laser-proton acceleration by controlling laser-energy deposition onto thin foil targets. Applied Physics Letters 104, 081123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulanov, SV, Esirkepov, TZh, Khoroshkov, VS, Kuznetsov, AV and Pegoraro, F (2002) Oncological hadrontherapy with laser ion accelerators. Physics Letters A 299, 240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bychenkov, VYu, Tikhonchuk, VT and Tolokonnikov, SV (1999) Nuclear reactions triggered by laser-accelerated high-energy ions. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics 88, 1137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrí, M, Lefebvre, E, Flacco, A and Malka, V (2009) Influence of subpicosecond laser pulse duration on proton acceleration. Physics of Plasmas 16, 053105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daido, H, Nishiuchi, M and Pirozhkov, AS (2012) Review of laser-driven ion sources and their applications. Reports on Progress in Physics 75, 056401.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferri, J, Senje, L, Dalui, M, Svensson, K, Aurand, B, Hansson, M, Persson, A, Lundh, O, Wahlström, C-G, Gremillet, L, Siminos, E, DuBois, TC, Yi, L, Martins, JL and Fülöp, T (2018) Proton acceleration by a pair of successive ultraintense femtosecond laser pulses. Physics of Plasmas 25, 043115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flacco, A, Sylla, F, Veltcheva, M, Carrie, M, Nuter, R, Lefeb- vre, E, Batani, D and Malka, V (2010) Dependence on pulse duration and foil thickness in high-contrast-laser proton acceleration. Physical Review E 81, 036405.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuchs, J, Cowan, TE, Audebert, P, Ruhl, H, Gremillet, L, Kemp, A, Allen, M, Blazevic, A, Gauthier, J-C, Geissel, M, Hegelich, M, Karsch, S, Parks, P, Roth, M, Sentoku, Y, Stephens, R and Campbell, EM (2003) Spatial uniformity of laser-accelerated ultrahigh-current MeV electron propagation in metals and insulators. Physical Review Letters 91, 255002.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuchs, J, Antici, P, d'Humières, E, Lefebvre, E, Borghesi, M, Brambrink, E, Cecchetti, CA, Kaluza, M, Malka, V, Manclossi, M, Meyroneinc, S, Mora, P, Schreiber, J, Toncian, T, Pépin, H and Audebert, P (2006) Laser-driven proton scaling laws and new paths towards energy increase. Nature Physics 2, 48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegelich, BM, Albright, B, Audebert, P, Blazevic, A, Brambrink, E, Cobble, J, Cowan, T, Fuchs, J, Gauthier, JC, Gautier, C, Geissel, M, Habs, D, Johnson, R, Karsch, S, Kemp, A, Letzring, S, Roth, M, Schramm, U, Schreiber, J, Witte, KJ and Fernández, JC (2005) Spectral properties of laser- accelerated mid-Z MeV/u ion beams. Physics of Plasmas 12, 056314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumar, S, Gopal, K and Gupta, DN (2019) Proton acceleration from overdense plasma target interacting with shaped laser pulses in the presence of preplasmas. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 61, 085001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macchi, A, Borghesi, M and Passoni, M (2013) Ion acceleration by superintense laser-plasma interaction. Reviews of Modern Physics 85, 751.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackinnon, AJ, Sentoku, Y, Patel, PK, Price, DW, Hatchett, S, Key, MH, Andersen, C, Snavely, R and Freeman, RR (2002) Enhancement of proton acceleration by hot-electron recirculation in thin foils irradiated by ultraintense laser pulses. Physical Review Letters 88, 215006.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Markey, K, McKenna, P, Brenner, CM, Carroll, DC, Günther, MM, Harres, K, Kar, S, Lancaster, K, Nürnberg, F, Quinn, MN, Robinson, AP, Roth, M, Zepf, M and Neely, D (2010) Spectral enhancement in the double pulse regime of laser proton acceleration. Physical Review Letters 105, 195008.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKenna, P, Carroll, DC, Lundh, Olle, Nürnberg, F, Markey, K, Bandyopadhyay, S, Batani, D, Evans, RG, Jafer, R, Kar, S, Neely, D, Pepler, D, Quinn, MN, Redaelli, R, Roth, M, Wahlstrom, C-G, Yuan, XH and Zepf, M (2008) Effects of front surface plasma expansion on proton acceleration in ultraintense laser irradiation of foil targets. Laser and Particle Beams 26, 591.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mora, P (2003) Plasma expansion into a vacuum. Physical Review Letters 90, 185002.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oishi, Y, Nayuki, T, Fujii, T, Takizawa, Y, Wang, X, Yamazaki, T, Nemoto, K, Kayoiji, T, Sekiya, T, Horioka, K, Okano, Y, Hironaka, Y, Nakamura, KG, Kondo, K and Andreev, AA (2005) Dependence on laser intensity and pulse duration in proton acceleration by irradiation of ultrashort laser pulses on a cu foil target. Physics of Plasmas 12, 073102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Passoni, M, Tikhonchuk, VT, Lontano, M and Bychenkov, VYu (2004) Charge separation effects in solid targets and ion acceleration with a two-temperature electron distribution. Physical Review E 69, 026411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robinson, APL, Neely, D, McKenna, P and Evans, RG (2007) Spectral control in proton acceleration with multiple laser pulses. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 49, 373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, APL, Zepf, M, Kar, S, Evans, RG and Bellei, C (2008) Radiation pressure acceleration of thin foils with circularly polarized laser pulses. New Journal of Physics 10, 013021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robson, L, Simpson, PT, Clarke, RJ, Ledingham, KWD, Lindau, F, Lundh, O, McCanny, T, Mora, P, Neely, D, Wahlström, C-G, Zepf, M and McKenna, P (2007) Scaling of proton acceleration driven by petawatt-laser-plasma interactions. Nature Physics 3, 58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roth, M, Cowan, TE, Key, MH, Hatchett, SP, Brown, C, Fountain, W, Johnson, J, Pennington, DM, Snavely, RA, Wilks, SC, Yasuike, K, Ruhl, H, Pegoraro, F, Bulanov, SV, Campbell, EM, Perry, MD and Powell, H (2001) Fast ignition by intense laser-accelerated proton beams. Physical Review Letters 86, 436.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schreiber, J, Bell, F, Grüner, F, Schramm, U, Geissler, M, Schnürer, M, Ter-Avetisyan, S, Hegelich, BM, Cobble, J, Brambrink, E, Fuchs, J, Audebert, P and Habs, D (2006) Analytical model for ion acceleration by high-intensity laser pulses. Physical Review Letters 97, 045005.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, GG, Green, JS, Bagnoud, V, Brabetz, C, Brenner, CM, Carroll, DC, MacLellan, DA, Robinson, APL, Roth, M, Spindloe, C, Wagner, F, Zielbauer, B, McKenna, P and Neely, D (2012) Multi-pulse enhanced laser ion acceleration using plasma half cavity targets. Applied Physics Letters 101, 024101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sentoku, Y, Bychenkov, VY, Flippo, K, Maksimchuk, A, Mima, K, Mourou, G, Sheng, ZM and Umstadter, D (2002) High-energy ion generation in interaction of short laser pulse with high-density plasma. Applied Physics B 74, 207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snavely, RA, Key, MH, Hatchett, SP, Cowan, TE, Roth, M, Phillips, TW, Stoyer, MA, Henry, EA, Sangster, TC, Singh, MS, Wilks, SC, MacKinnon, A, Offenberger, A, Pennington, DM, Yasuike, K, Langdon, AB, Lasinski, BF, Johnson, J, Perry, MD and Campbell, EM (2000) Intense high-energy proton beams from petawatt-laser irradiation of solids. Physical Review Letters 85, 2945.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tayyab, M, Bagchi, S, Chakera, JA, Khan, RA and Naik, PA (2018) Effect of temporally modified ultra-short laser pulses on ion acceleration from thin foil targets. Physics of Plasmas 25, 083113..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tripathi, VK, Liu, CS, Shao, X, Eliasson, B and Sagdeev, RZ (2009) Laser acceleration of monoenergetic protons in a self-organized double layer from thin foil. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 51, 024014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilks, SC, Langdon, AB, Cowan, TE, Roth, M, Singh, M, Hatchett, S, Key, MH, Pennington, D, MacKinnon, A and Snavely, RA (2001) Energetic proton generation in ultra-intense laser-solid interactions. Physics of Plasmas 8, 542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yin, L, Albright, BJ, Hegelich, BM, Bowers, KJ, Flippo, KA, Kwan, TJT and Fernández, JC (2007) Monoenergetic and GeV ion acceleration from the laser breakout afterburner using ultrathin targets. Physics of Plasmas 14, 056706.CrossRefGoogle Scholar