Work

Enhanced proton acceleration from an ultrathin double-foil target with circularly polarized laser pulses

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The generation of proton beams using ultrathin double-foil targets driven by circularly polarized laser pulses is explored experimentally. A significant increase up to 2.7 times in proton maximum energies is observed with respect to a typical single-foil target. The total number of protons was increased by a factor of 6. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations agree with the experimental data and suggest that such an increase is attributable to a more pronounced radiation pressure acceleration process when the circularly polarized laser pulse propagates through the first nanometer thin foil and undergoes strong pulse shaping via relativistic nonlinearities.

Source: Physics of Plasmas

DOI: 10.1063/5.0249281