Features of ion acceleration by circularly polarized laser pulses

TL;DR

This paper investigates ion acceleration using circularly polarized laser pulses, revealing high efficiency, dense ion beams, low divergence, and femtosecond durations through particle-in-cell simulations, and compares these features with linear polarization.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed simulation-based analysis of ion acceleration by circularly polarized ultrashort laser pulses, highlighting their advantages over linear polarization.

Findings

High ion acceleration efficiency

Large ion density and low divergence

Potential for femtosecond ion pulses

Abstract

The characteristics of a MeV ion source driven by superintense, ultrashort laser pulses with circular polarization are studied by means of particle-in-cell simulations. Predicted features include high efficiency, large ion density, low divergence and the possibility of femtosecond duration. A comparison with the case of linearly polarized pulses is made.