Title :
Pondermotive acceleration of ions by relativistically self-focused high-intensity short pulse laser
Author :
Maksimchuk, A. ; Gu, S. ; Flippo, K. ; Chen, S.Y. ; Umstadter, D. ; Sarkisov, G.S. ; Bychenkov, V.Yu. ; Novikov, V.N. ; Tichonchuk, V.T.
Abstract :
We report on the observation of high energy ions with energies up to 1 MeV accelerated ponderomotively by a relativistically self-focused intense 5 TW, 400 fs laser pulse in a supersonic He gas jet on the distance of a laser spot size. Probing interferometry was used to observe on-axis electron-ion cavitation followed by the plasma expansion with a high radial velocity of ~3.8.108 cm/s. Using the nuclear track detector CR-39, we confirmed that the ions are preferentially accelerated in the radial direction and the total energy in high energy ions is about 1% of the laser energy. Developed kinetic modeling provides a reasonable description of a plasma channel formation and ion acceleration
Keywords :
collective accelerators; ion accelerators; ion beams; laser beam effects; 1 MeV; 400 fs; 5 TW; CR-39; ion acceleration; kinetic modeling; nuclear track detector; on-axis electron-ion cavitation; plasma channel formation; plasma expansion; pondermotive acceleration; relativistically self-focused high-intensity short pulse laser; supersonic He gas jet; Acceleration; Gas lasers; Laser fusion; Laser theory; Optical pulses; Physics; Plasma accelerators; Plasma applications; Plasma x-ray sources; X-ray lasers;
Conference_Titel :
Particle Accelerator Conference, 1999. Proceedings of the 1999
Conference_Location :
New York, NY
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5573-3
DOI :
10.1109/PAC.1999.792422
