Theoretical benchmarking of laser-accelerated ion fluxes by 2D-PIC simulations

TL;DR

This paper systematically compares various laser-driven ion acceleration schemes using 2D-PIC simulations and analytical models to evaluate their ion fluxes and optimize target designs for high flux production.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive numerical benchmarking of multiple laser ion acceleration schemes against analytical models, aiding in understanding their efficiencies and parameter regimes.

Findings

Analytical models are validated against 2D-PIC simulations for different schemes.

Ion fluxes vary significantly depending on the scheme and laser parameters.

Optimized target designs can enhance ion fluxes for specific acceleration methods.

Abstract

There currently exists a number of different schemes for laser based ion acceleration in the literature. Some of these schemes are also partly overlapping, making a clear distinction between the schemes difficult in certain parameter regimes. Here, we provide a systematic numerical comparison between the following schemes and their analytical models: light-sail acceleration, Coulomb explosions, hole boring acceleration, and target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA). We study realistic laser parameters and various different target designs, each optimized for one of the acceleration schemes, respectively. As a means of comparing the schemes, we compute the ion current density generated at different laser powers, using two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, and benchmark the particular analytical models for the corresponding schemes against the numerical results. Finally, we discuss the consequences for attaining high fluxes through the studied laser ion-acceleration schemes.