title: Transient electrostatic fields and related energetic proton generation with a plasma fiber.
abstract: We observe a hollow structure and a fine ring in the proton images from a petawatt scale laser interaction with a "cone-fiber" target. The protons related to the hollow structure are accelerated from the cone-tip surface and deflected later by a radial electric field surrounding the fiber. Those associated with the fine ring are accelerated from the fiber surface by this radial electric field. This field is found to decay exponentially within 3 ps from about 5 x 10(12) V/m. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations produce similar proton angular distributions.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University, 2-6 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. zhenglinchen@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Z L
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Z M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuoka
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sentoku
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tampo
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsutsumi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yabuuchi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kodama