Spin-polarized ${}^3$He shock waves from a solid-gas composite target at high laser intensities

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the generation of highly polarized ${}^3$He ion beams via collisionless shock acceleration using high-intensity laser pulses, with a solid-gas composite target setup that enhances beam quality and polarization stability.

Contribution

It introduces a novel laser-target configuration combining a solid carbon foil with a helium target to produce polarized ion beams at high laser intensities, incorporating radiation reaction effects in simulations.

Findings

Higher beam charge with radiation reaction inclusion.

Stable polarization degree despite increased charge.

Effective shielding of helium from oscillating laser fields.

Abstract

We investigate Collisionless Shock Acceleration of spin-polarized ${}^3$He for laser pulses with normalized vector potentials in the range $a_0 = 100-200$. The setup utilized in the 2D-PIC simulations consists of a solid Carbon foil that is placed in front of the main Helium target. The foil is heated by the laser pulse and shields the Helium from the highly oscillating fields. In turn, a shock wave with more homogeneous fields is induced, leading to highly polarized ion beams. We observe that the inclusion of radiation reaction into our simulations leads to a higher beam charge without affecting the polarization degree to a significant extent.