Ion acceleration with an ultra-intense two-frequency laser tweezer

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel ultra-intense optical tweezer concept using two-frequency lasers to trap and accelerate ions via a plasma micro-capacitor, demonstrated through theoretical analysis and multi-dimensional simulations.

Contribution

It presents a new method for ion acceleration using an ultra-intense two-frequency laser tweezer that creates a plasma micro-capacitor for efficient ion beam generation.

Findings

Efficient narrow-energy-spread ion beams generated from multi-species targets.

Theoretical and numerical validation of the laser tweezer ion acceleration mechanism.

Creation of a strong electrostatic field via laser interference inside a nano-foil.

Abstract

Ultra-intense lasers produce and manipulate plasmas, allowing to locally generate extremely high static and electromagnetic fields. This Letter presents a concept of an ultra-intense optical tweezer, where two counter-propagating circularly polarized intense lasers of different frequencies collide on a nano-foil. Interfering inside the foil, lasers produce a beat wave, which traps and moves plasma electrons as a thin sheet with an optically controlled velocity. The electron displacement creates a plasma micro-capacitor with an extremely strong electrostatic field, that efficiently generates narrow-energy-spread ion beams from the multi-species targets, e.g. protons from the hydrocarbon foils. The proposed ion accelerator concept is explored theoretically and demonstrated numerically with the multi-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.