title: Direct acceleration of solid-density plasma bunch by ultraintense laser.
abstract: The interaction of a petawatt laser with a small solid-density plasma bunch is studied by particle-in-cell simulation. It is shown that when irradiated by a laser of intensity >10(21) W/cm2, a dense plasma bunch of micrometer size can be efficiently accelerated. The kinetic energy of the ions in the high-density region of the plasma bunch can exceed ten MeV at a density in the 10(23)-cm(-3) level. Having a flux density orders of magnitude higher than that of the traditional charged-particle pulses, the laser-accelerated plasma bunch can have a wide range of applications. In particular, such a dense energetic plasma bunch impinging on the compressed fuel in inertial fusion can significantly enhance the nuclear-reaction cross section and is thus a promising alternative for fast ignition.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Fusion Science, 322-6 Oroshi-cho, Toki-shi 509-5292, Japan.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ishiguro
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: A Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Wong