Coulomb explosion effect and the maximum energy of protons accelerated by high-power lasers

E. Fourkal, I. Velchev, C. M. Ma

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

91 Scopus citations

Abstract

The acceleration of light ions (protons) through the interaction of a high-power laser pulse with a double-layer target is theoretically studied by means of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations and a one-dimensional analytical model. It is shown that the maximum energy acquired by the accelerated light ions (protons) depends on the physical characteristics of a heavy-ion layer (electron-ion mass ratio and effective charge state of the ions). In our theoretical model, the hydrodynamic equations for both electron and heavy-ion species are solved and the test-particle approximation for the light ions (protons) is applied. The heavy-ion motion is found to modify the longitudinal electric field distribution, thus changing the acceleration conditions for the protons.

Original languageEnglish
Article number036412
Pages (from-to)036412
JournalPhysical Review E
Volume71
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2005

Keywords

  • Biophysics/methods
  • Computer Simulation
  • Electrons
  • Ions
  • Lasers
  • Models, Statistical
  • Protons

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