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Laser-driven proton acceleration enhancement by nanostructured foils.

D Margarone¹, O Klimo, I J Kim

¹Institute of Physics of the ASCR, ELI-Beamlines/HiLASE project, Na Slovance 2, 18221 Prague, Czech Republic.

Physical Review Letters

|February 2, 2013

Summary

Nanostructured plastic foils with polystyrene nanospheres significantly boost laser-driven proton acceleration. This novel target design enhances laser absorption, increasing proton energy and beam charge for advanced applications.

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Area of Science:

Plasma Physics
Laser-Matter Interaction
Materials Science

Background:

Laser-driven proton acceleration is crucial for applications in medicine and research.
Enhancing laser absorption in targets is key to improving proton beam characteristics.
Traditional planar targets have limitations in maximizing energy transfer.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the effect of nanostructured targets on laser-driven proton acceleration.
To determine the optimal nanosphere size for enhanced proton beam generation.
To demonstrate a novel target geometry for improved laser-plasma interactions.

Main Methods:

Utilizing nanostructured thin plastic foils with a monolayer of polystyrene nanospheres.
Irradiating targets with a 100 TW laser beam.
Employing 2(1/2)-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations for data interpretation.

Main Results:

A significant enhancement in laser absorption by the nanostructured targets was observed.
The maximum proton energy (cutoff energy) increased by approximately 60% with optimal nanospheres (535 nm diameter).
The number of protons exceeding 1 MeV increased about 5-fold compared to planar foils.

Conclusions:

The use of nanostructured polystyrene nanosphere targets represents a breakthrough in laser-driven proton acceleration.
This advanced target geometry offers a viable method for substantially improving proton beam quality and intensity.
The findings pave the way for more efficient and powerful proton beam sources.