Coulomb implosion mechanism of negative ion acceleration in laser plasmas

TL;DR

This paper proposes a Coulomb implosion mechanism for negative ion acceleration in laser plasmas, supported by theoretical, simulation, and experimental evidence, revealing that negative ions are accelerated inward with lower energies than positive ions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Coulomb implosion mechanism for negative ion acceleration in laser plasmas, combining theory, simulations, and experimental validation.

Findings

Negative ions are accelerated inward during Coulomb explosion.

Maximum energy of negative ions is several times lower than positive ions.

Experimental evidence supports the Coulomb implosion mechanism.

Abstract

Coulomb implosion mechanism of the negatively charged ion acceleration in laser plasmas is proposed. When a cluster target is irradiated by an intense laser pulse and the Coulomb explosion of positively charged ions occurs, the negative ions are accelerated inward. The maximum energy of negative ions is several times lower than that of positive ions. The theoretical description and Particle-in-Cell simulation of the Coulomb implosion mechanism and the evidence of the negative ion acceleration in the experiments on the high intensity laser pulse interaction with the cluster targets are presented.