Effect of Small Focus on Electron Heating and Proton Acceleration in Ultrarelativistic Laser-Solid Interactions

N. P. Dover, M. Nishiuchi, H. Sakaki, Ko Kondo, M. A. Alkhimova, A. Ya Faenov, M. Hata, N. Iwata, H. Kiriyama, J. K. Koga, T. Miyahara, T. A. Pikuz, A. S. Pirozhkov, A. Sagisaka, Y. Sentoku, Y. Watanabe, M. Kando, K. Kondo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Acceleration of particles from the interaction of ultraintense laser pulses up to 5×1021 W cm-2 with thin foils is investigated experimentally. The electron beam parameters varied with decreasing spot size, not just laser intensity, resulting in reduced temperatures and divergence. In particular, the temperature saturated due to insufficient acceleration length in the tightly focused spot. These dependencies affected the sheath-accelerated protons, which showed poorer spot-size scaling than widely used scaling laws. It is therefore shown that maximizing laser intensity by using very small foci has reducing returns for some applications.

Original languageEnglish
Article number084802
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume124
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 26 2020

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Physics and Astronomy(all)

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