title: Ion acceleration in multispecies targets driven by intense laser radiation pressure.
abstract: The acceleration of ions from ultrathin foils has been investigated by using 250 TW, subpicosecond laser pulses, focused to intensities of up to 3 × 10(20) W cm(-2). The ion spectra show the appearance of narrow-band features for protons and carbon ions peaked at higher energies (in the 5-10 MeV/nucleon range) and with significantly higher flux than previously reported. The spectral features and their scaling with laser and target parameters provide evidence of a multispecies scenario of radiation pressure acceleration in the light sail mode, as confirmed by analytical estimates and 2D particle-in-cell simulations. The scaling indicates that monoenergetic peaks with more than 100 MeV/nucleon are obtainable with moderate improvements of the target and laser characteristics, which are within reach of ongoing technical developments.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Plasma Physics, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom. s.kar@qub.ac.uk
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kar
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Kakolee
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Macchi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cerchez
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Doria
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Geissler
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McKenna
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Neely
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Osterholz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ramakrishna
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sarri
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Willi
authors.forename: X Y
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zepf
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borghesi
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D003198:Computer Simulation; D007834:Lasers; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011522:Protons; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D011522:Protons; D002244:Carbon