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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 103 » Issue 4
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 045002 (2009) [4 pages]

Enhanced Laser-Driven Ion Acceleration in the Relativistic Transparency Regime

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A. Henig1,2,*, D. Kiefer1,2, K. Markey3, D. C. Gautier4, K. A. Flippo4, S. Letzring4, R. P. Johnson4, T. Shimada4, L. Yin4, B. J. Albright4, K. J. Bowers4, J. C. Fernández4, S. G. Rykovanov1,5, H.-C. Wu1, M. Zepf3, D. Jung1,2, V. Kh. Liechtenstein6,2, J. Schreiber1,2,7, D. Habs1,2, and B. M. Hegelich2,4
1Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany
2Department für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Garching, Germany
3Department of Physics and Astronomy, Queens University Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
4Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
5Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, Kashirskoe shosse 31, Moscow, Russia
6RRC “Kurchatov Institute,” 123182, Moscow, Russia
7Plasma Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, SW7 2BZ, United Kingdom

Received 18 January 2009; published 21 July 2009

We report on the acceleration of ion beams from ultrathin diamondlike carbon foils of thickness 50, 30, and 10 nm irradiated by ultrahigh contrast laser pulses at intensities of ∼7×1019  W/cm2. An unprecedented maximum energy of 185 MeV (15  MeV/u) for fully ionized carbon atoms is observed at the optimum thickness of 30 nm. The enhanced acceleration is attributed to self-induced transparency, leading to strong volumetric heating of the classically overdense electron population in the bulk of the target. Our experimental results are supported by both particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations and an analytical model.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.045002
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.045002
PACS:
52.38.Kd, 41.75.Jv, 52.50.Jm, 52.65.Rr

*andreas.henig@mpq.mpg.de

 
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