Title :
Ion acceleration regimes in underdense plasmas
Author :
Pegoraro, Francesco ; Bulanov, Sergei V. ; Califano, Francesco ; Esirkepov, Timur Zh ; Lisejkina, Tatiana V. ; Naumova, Natalia M. ; Ruhl, Hartmut ; Vshivkov, Vitali A.
Author_Institution :
Dipartimento di Fisica, Pisa Univ., Italy
Abstract :
Acceleration of large populations of ions up to high (relativistic) energies may represent one of the most important and interesting tools that can be provided by the interaction of petawatt laser pulses with matter. In this paper, the basic mechanisms of ion acceleration by short laser pulses are studied in underdense plasmas. The ion acceleration does not originate directly from the pulse fields, but it is mediated by the electrons in the form of electrostatic fields originating from channeling, double layer formation and Coulomb explosion.
Keywords :
acceleration; dissociation; electric fields; plasma density; plasma light propagation; plasma sheaths; relativistic plasmas; Coulomb explosion; channeling; double layer formation; electrostatic fields; high energies; ion acceleration mechanisms; ion acceleration regimes; ion population; laser pulse-matter interactions; particle in cell simulation; petawatt laser pulses; pulse fields; relativistic energies; short laser pulses; ultraintense laser pulse; underdense plasmas; Acceleration; Electrons; Laser fusion; Laser theory; Optical pulses; Plasma accelerators; Plasma applications; Plasma confinement; Plasma simulation; Power lasers;
Journal_Title :
Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on
