Table-top laser-based proton acceleration in nanostructured targets

TL;DR

This paper investigates how nanostructured targets can enhance laser-driven proton acceleration by optimizing energy transfer, using analytical models and simulations to identify effective target designs for improved ion energies.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis and simulation-based guidelines for designing nanostructured targets to optimize ion acceleration efficiency in laser-plasma interactions.

Findings

Nanostructure shape and size significantly affect ion acceleration efficiency.

Optimal laser incidence angles improve energy transfer to ions.

Proposed target parameters can increase ion energies without higher laser intensities.

Abstract

The interaction of ultrashort, high intensity laser pulses with thin foil targets leads to ion acceleration on the target rear surface. To make this ion source useful for applications, it is important to optimize the transfer of energy from the laser into the accelerated ions. One of the most promising ways to achieve this consists in engineering the target front by introducing periodic nanostructures. In this paper, the effect of these structures on ion acceleration is studied analytically and with multi-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We assessed the role of the structure shape, size, and the angle of laser incidence for obtaining the efficient energy transfer. Local control of electron trajectories is exploited to maximise the energy delivered into the target. Based on our numerical simulations, we propose a precise range of parameters for fabrication of nanostructured targets, which can increase the energy of the accelerated ions without requiring a higher laser intensity.