Bagchi, Suman, Tayyab, Mohammad, Pasley, John Richard orcid.org/0000-0001-5832-8285 et al. (3 more authors) (2021) Quasi mono-energetic heavy ion acceleration from layered targets. Physics of Plasmas. 023108. ISSN 1089-7674
Abstract
In the present work, we demonstrate acceleration of quasi monoenergetic heavy ions during the interaction of a high-intensity short-pulse laser with multi-layer targets. The targets, consisting of layers of high-Z (gold) and low-Z (carbon) species a few nm thick, have been used to tailor the energy spectra of the high-Z ion species. Au-ion bunches of energy around 500 keV with an energy spread of less than 20% are observed. Particle-in-cell simulations provide explanation for a number of features of the experimental observations. Several behaviors, in addition to the expected sheath-field acceleration, were found to be involved. It is found that the Au layer is pistoned outward by the underlying Si substrate whilst simultaneously being tamped at its leading edge by the carbon overlay. The simulations show best agreement with the experiments when the carbon layer is first rarefied by the laser prepulse. In these cases, the simulations reproduce the double-humped spectra found in the experiment. Ion-electrostatic instabilities rapidly lead to the formation of a single trapping-like structure in phase space of relatively long wavelength. This long-lived structure dominates the ion acceleration and produces a double-peaked energy spectrum. It is suggested that the instability responsible may be of the Pierce-type.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Physics (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 18 Feb 2021 16:40 |
Last Modified: | 28 Nov 2024 00:33 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0022622 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1063/5.0022622 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:171346 |
Download
Filename: author_accepted_manuscript.pdf
Description: author accepted manuscript