title: Micrometer-sized negative-ion accelerator based on ultrashort laser pulse interaction with transparent solids.
abstract: We report here energetic (>100 keV) negative hydrogen ions (H(-)) generated in the interaction of moderately intense (10(18) W cm(-2)) ultrashort laser pulses (45 fs) with transparent hydrogen containing solid targets. An unambiguous and consistent detection of negative hydrogen ions, with a flux of 8×10(11)H(-) ions/sr, has been observed in every single laser shot, using a Thomson parabola ion spectrograph. Simple estimates based on charge transfer cross sections match well with experimental observations. Our method offers the implementation of an intense, ultrashort laser based negative-ion source at a higher repetition rate, which can be important for various applications.
authors.affiliation: Laser Plasma Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore 452 013, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bagchi
authors.affiliation: Laser Plasma Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore 452 013, India.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tayyab
authors.affiliation: Laser Plasma Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore 452 013, India.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ramakrishna
authors.affiliation: Laser Plasma Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore 452 013, India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Upadhyay
authors.affiliation: Laser Plasma Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore 452 013, India.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mandal
authors.affiliation: Laser Plasma Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore 452 013, India.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Chakera
authors.affiliation: Laser Plasma Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore 452 013, India.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Naik
authors.affiliation: Laser Plasma Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore 452 013, India.
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Gupta