ePubs

The open archive for STFC research publications

Full Record Details

Persistent URL http://purl.org/net/epubs/work/36963
Record Status Checked
Record Id 36963
Title Enhanced proton beams from ultrathin targets driven by high contrast laser pulses
Contributors
Abstract The generation of proton beams from ultrathin targets, down to 20 nm in thickness, driven with ultrahigh contrast laser pulses is explored. the conversion efficiency from laser energy into protons increases as the foil thickness is decreased, with good beam quality and high efficiencies of 1% being achieved, for protons with kinetic energy exceeding 0.9 MeV, for 100 nm thick aluminum foils at intensities of 10(19) W/cm(2) with 33 fs, 0.3 J pulses. To minimize amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) induced effects disrupting the acceleration mechanism, exceptional laser to ASE intensity contrasts of up to 1010 are achieved by introducing a plasma mirror to the high contrast 10 Hz multiterawatt laser at the Lund Laser Centre. It is shown that for a given laser energy on target, regimes of higher laser-to-proton energy conversion efficiency. can be accessed with increasing contrast. The increasing efficiency as the target thickness decreases is closely correlated to an increasing proton temperature. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.
Organisation CCLRC , CLF , CLF-HPL
Keywords CLF 2006-2007
Funding Information
Related Research Object(s):
Licence Information:
Language English (EN)
Type Details URI(s) Local file(s) Year
Journal Article Appl Phys Lett 89, no. 2 (2006): 021502. doi:10.1063/1.2220011 2006