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Generation of monoenergetic proton beams by a combined scheme with an overdense hydrocarbon target and an underdense plasma gas irradiated by ultra-intense laser pulse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2014

Weipeng Yao ,
Baiwen Li ,
Lihua Cao ,
Fanglan Zheng ,
Taiwu Huang ,
Chengzhuo Xiao  and
Milos M. Skoric
Weipeng Yao
Affiliation:
Graduate School, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
Baiwen Li*
Affiliation:
Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
Lihua Cao
Affiliation:
Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China Key Laboratory of HEDP of Ministry of Education, CAPT, Peking University, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
Fanglan Zheng
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of HEDP of Ministry of Education, CAPT, Peking University, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
Taiwu Huang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of HEDP of Ministry of Education, CAPT, Peking University, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
Chengzhuo Xiao
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of HEDP of Ministry of Education, CAPT, Peking University, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
Milos M. Skoric
Affiliation:
National Institute for Fusion Science, Toki, Japan
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Baiwen Li, Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, Beijing 100088, Peoples Republic of China. E-mail: li_baiwen@iapcm.ac.cn.
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Abstract

An optimization scheme for the generation of monoenergetic proton beams by using an overdense hydrocarbon target, followed by an underdense plasma gas, irradiated by an ultra-intense laser pulse is presented. The scheme is based on a combination of a radiation pressure acceleration mechanism and a laser wakefield acceleration mechanism, and is verified by one-dimensional relativistic particle-in-cell (1D PIC) simulations. As compared to the pure hydrogen (H) target, protons in the hydrocarbon target can be pre-accelerated to higher energy and compressed in space due to the existence of the heavy carbon atoms, which provides a better injection process for the successive laser wakefield acceleration in the underdense plasma gas, resulting in the generation of a monoenergetic, tens-of-GeV proton beam. Additionally, for the first time, it is found that the use of the hydrocarbon target can reduce the requirement for laser intensity to generate proton beams with the same energy in this combined scheme, as compared to the use of the pure H target.

Keywords

Combined acceleration mechanismHydrocarbon targetOptimized injection processParticle-in-cellProton acceleration
Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , December 2014 , pp. 583 - 589
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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