Synchronized ion acceleration by ultraintense slow light

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new synchronized ion acceleration scheme using ultraintense slow light pulses in near-critical-density plasma, supported by theoretical modeling and 3D PIC simulations, showing enhanced proton energies compared to traditional methods.

Contribution

It introduces a novel scheme for synchronized ion acceleration with a theoretical model and simulation validation, demonstrating improved proton energy output.

Findings

Confirmed the scheme via 3D PIC simulations.

Showed significant increase in proton energy.

Demonstrated relativistic self-focusing effects.

Abstract

An effective scheme of synchronized laser-triggered ion acceleration and the corresponding theoretical model are proposed for a slow light pulse of relativistic intensity, which penetrates into a near-critical-density plasma, strongly slows, and then increases its group velocity during propagation within a target. The 3D PIC simulations confirm this concept for proton acceleration by a femtosecond petawatt-class laser pulse experiencing relativistic self-focusing, quantify the characteristics of the generated protons, and demonstrate a significant increase of their energy compared with the proton energy generated from optimized ultrathin solid dense foils.