Laser Wakefield Acceleration of Ions with a Transverse Flying Focus

Area of Science:

• Plasma Physics
• High-Energy Particle Acceleration
• Laser-Matter Interactions

Background:

• Traditional accelerators face limitations in compact, high-energy ion generation.
• Laser-plasma interactions offer compact acceleration but are limited to ~100 MeV/nucleon for ions.
• Low ion charge-to-mass ratio hinders effective laser wakefield acceleration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate GeV-energy ion acceleration using laser-plasma interactions.
• To overcome the limitations of conventional laser wakefield acceleration for ions.
• To explore advanced laser pulse shaping for particle acceleration.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a relativistic-intensity laser pulse with a transverse flying focus.
• Employed three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to model the interaction.
• Investigated ion trapping in a comoving electrostatic pocket within underdense plasma.

Main Results:

• Achieved GeV-energy ion acceleration in underdense plasma.
• Generated a monoenergetic, collimated proton beam with 1.6 GeV peak energy.
• Observed a proton beam charge of 23.1 pC and a 3.7% relative energy spread.
• Demonstrated acceleration over a short distance of 0.44 cm.

Conclusions:

• The transverse flying focus technique enables GeV-energy ion acceleration.
• This method overcomes previous energy limitations in laser-plasma accelerators.
• Highlights the potential of spatiotemporal pulse shaping for advanced plasma physics research and compact accelerator development.