A pulse length and intensity study of proton generation from microtube foil targets

ORAL

Abstract

The interaction of an intense laser with a solid foil target can drive ~TV/m electric fields, accelerating ions to MeV energies. Simulations and experimental data [1,2] show that the ion energies and numbers can increase using structured targets. In this study, we experimentally observe that structured targets can dramatically enhance proton acceleration in the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) regime. At the Texas Petawatt Laser facility, we compared proton acceleration from a 1 µm Ag flat foil, to a fixed microtube structure 3D printed on the front side of the same foil type. A pulse length (140 – 500 fs) and intensity ( [6 – 20] ×1020 W/cm2)  study found an optimum laser configuration (140 fs, 6×1020 W/cm2), in which microtube targets increase the proton cutoff energy by ~2× and the energetic proton yield (>1.5 MeV) by ~3×. Experimental results are compared with 2D simulations and will be presented at the meeting.

References:

[1] L. L. Ji, et al. Scientific Reports, Scientific reports 6.1 (2016): 1-7.

[2] M. Bailly-Grandvaux, et al. Physical Review E 102.2 (2020): 021201.

*This work is supported by the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Numbers DE-NA0003842 and DE-NA0003525, and by the DOE Office of Science, Fusion Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-SC0021125, the LaserNetUS initiative at the Texas Petawatt Laser facility.

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Presenters

  • Joseph Strehlow

    • University of California, San Diego

Authors

  • Joseph Strehlow

    • University of California, San Diego

  • Mathieu Bailly-Grandvaux

    • University of California San Diego
    • University of California, San Diego

  • Simon Bolanos

    • University of California, San Diego

  • Herbie L Smith

    • University of Texas at Austin

  • Constantin Aniculaesei

    • University of Texas at Austin

  • Hui Chen

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • LLNL

  • Todd Ditmire

    • University of Texas at Austin

  • Michael E Donovan

    • University of Texas at Austin

  • Alex Haid

    • General Atomics
    • GA

  • B M Hegelich

    • University of Texas at Austin

  • Tammy Ma

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Harry S McLean

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab

  • Hernan J Quevedo

    • University of Texas at Austin

  • Michael M Spinks

    • University of Texas at Austin

  • Farhat N Beg

    • University of California San Diego
    • University of California, San Diego
    • Center for Energy Research,University of California, San Diego, USA.