Proton acceleration by circularly polarized traveling electromagnetic wave

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method for accelerating protons to high energies using a phase-modulated circularly polarized electromagnetic wave in the presence of a magnetic field, with potential applications in medicine.

Contribution

It introduces a new acceleration mechanism utilizing phase modulation of circularly polarized waves for efficient proton acceleration.

Findings

A plane wave with amplitude 0.1 can accelerate 1 KeV protons to 386 MeV.

The proposed scheme is effective under optimal conditions.

Discussion of potential limitations of the acceleration method.

Abstract

The acceleration of charged particles, producing collimated mono-energetic beams, over short distances holds the promise to offer new tools in medicine and diagnostics. Here, we consider a possible mechanism for accelerating protons to high energies by using a phase-modulated circularly polarized electromagnetic wave propagating along a constant magnetic field. It is observed that a plane wave with dimensionless amplitude of 0.1 is capable to accelerate a 1 KeV proton to 386 MeV under optimum conditions. Finally we discuss possible limitations of the acceleration scheme.