Optical and Quantum Electronics

, Volume 44, Issue 8–9, pp 393–401 | Cite as

Comparison of ion acceleration from ultra-short intense laser interactions with thin foil and small dense target

  • Youwei Tian
  • Xun Wang
  • Huanhuan Liu
  • Hongtao Huang
  • Xue Qin
  • Vinod Senecha
Article
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Abstract

The comparative efficiency and beam characteristics of high-energy ions generated from the interaction of a petawatt laser pulse with thin foil target and a small solid-density plasma bunch target have been studied by particle-in-cell simulation under identical conditions. It is shown that thin foil and small solid dense target of micrometer size can be efficiently accelerated when irradiated by a laser pulse of intensity >1021 W/cm2. Using direct beam measurements, we find that small solid dense target acceleration produces higher energy particles with smaller divergence and a higher efficiency compared to thin foil target acceleration. The merits of small solid target acceleration can be exploited for potential applications such as its role as ignitor for fast ignition in inertial confinement fusion.

Keywords

Ion acceleration Particle-in-cell simulation Laser pulse 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  • Youwei Tian
    • 1
  • Xun Wang
    • 1
  • Huanhuan Liu
    • 2
  • Hongtao Huang
    • 1
  • Xue Qin
    • 1
  • Vinod Senecha
    • 3
  1. 1.College of ScienceNanjing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsNanjingPeople’s Republic of China
  2. 2.College of Optoelectronic EngineeringNanjing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsNanjingPeople’s Republic of China
  3. 3.Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced TechnologyIndoreIndia

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