Radiation reaction effects on ion acceleration in laser foil interaction

TL;DR

This paper investigates how radiation reaction influences ion acceleration during laser-foil interactions, revealing that radiation effects can enhance ion acceleration in certain transparency regimes through analytical and simulation methods.

Contribution

It introduces a combined analytical and simulation approach to study radiation reaction effects on ion acceleration, highlighting their significance at ultra-high laser intensities.

Findings

Radiation reaction impedes backward electron motion at high intensities.

Ion acceleration is enhanced in the optical transparency region when considering radiation effects.

Radiation effects become significant at laser intensities around 10^22 W/cm^2.

Abstract

Radiation reaction effects on ion acceleration in laser foil interaction are investigated via analytical modeling and multi-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We find the radiation effects are important in the area where some electrons move backwards due to static charge separation field at the laser intensity of 1022 W=cm2. Radiation reaction tends to impede these backwards motion. In the optical transparency region ion acceleration is enhanced when the radiation effects are considered.