超强激光脉冲下等离子体块的整体加速研究

为了克服激光加速中强流离子束空间电荷效应对粒子输运的影响,提出一种利用两块不同密度的固体靶先后和一束强度约为1022 W/cm2、脉冲长度为5T(T为激光周期)的超强脉冲激光相互作用的方案,实现了中性等离子体块的加速。通过一维PIC数值模拟研究发现,在合适的参数下,加速后的电子与质子几乎以相同的速度共同飞行长达60（为激光波长）的距离,其中质子与电子的能量分别为GeV和100 MeV量级。     

超强激光与固体气体复合靶作用产生高能氦离子

激光氦离子源产生的MeV能量的氦离子因有望用于聚变反应堆材料辐照损伤的模拟研究而得到关注.目前激光驱动氦离子源的主要方案是采用相对论激光与氦气射流作用加速高能氦离子,但这种方案在实验上难以产生具有前向性和准单能性、数MeV能量、高产额的氦离子束,而这些氦离子束特性是材料辐照损伤研究中十分关注的.不同于上述激光氦离子产生方法,我们提出了一种利用超强激光与固体-气体复合靶作用产生氦离子的新方法.利用这种方法,在实验上,采用功率密度5×10~(18)W/cm~2的皮秒脉宽的激光脉冲与铜-氦气复合靶作用,产生了前向发射的2.7 MeV的准单能氦离子束,能量超过0.5 MeV的氦离子产额约为10~(13)/sr.二维粒子模拟显示,氦离子在靶背鞘场加速和类无碰撞冲击波加速两种加速机理共同作用下得到加速.同时粒子模拟还显示氦离子截止能量与超热电子温度成正比.     

强激光与稠密等离子体作用引起的冲击波加速离子的研究

用二维PIC（Particle-in-Cell）程序模拟研究了强激光与稠密等离子体靶作用产生的无碰撞静电冲击波的结构和这种冲击波对离子的加速过程,研究发现由于冲击波前沿附近的双极电场的作用,具有一定初速度的离子能被该双极场俘获并获得加速,最终能够被加速到两倍冲击波速度.冲击波加速可以得到准单能的离子能谱,叠加在通过鞘层加速机理产生的宽度离子能谱上.还对不同激光强度和不同等离子体密度情况下形成的冲击波进行了比较.研究表明,强度相对较低的激光在高密度等离子体中可以产生以一定速度传播的静电孤波结构,后者只能加速 关键词： 强激光 稠密等离子体 无碰撞静电冲击波 离子加速     

超强脉冲激光辐照固体靶背表面的渡越辐射

在超强脉冲激光与固体靶相互作用中,利用光学CCD相机和光学多道分析仪,分别在固体薄膜靶背表面法线方向测量了渡越辐射（TR）积分成像图案和光谱。测量结果显示：TR空间分布图案呈圆环状,而辐射区域有发散角和光强分布;TR光谱在800 nm附近出现尖峰,是激光的基频波,这一现象归因于超热电子束在输运的过程中产生的微束团而引起的相干渡越辐射;如果考虑超热电子的产生和加热机制,共振吸收和真空加热对超热电子都有贡献,其中占主导地位的加热机制则是共振吸收对电子的加热。     

超强脉冲激光辐照固体靶背表面的渡越辐射

 在超强脉冲激光与固体靶相互作用中,利用光学CCD相机和光学多道分析仪,分别在固体薄膜靶背表面法线方向测量了渡越辐射（TR）积分成像图案和光谱。测量结果显示：TR空间分布图案呈圆环状,而辐射区域有发散角和光强分布;TR光谱在800 nm附近出现尖峰,是激光的基频波,这一现象归因于超热电子束在输运的过程中产生的微束团而引起的相干渡越辐射;如果考虑超热电子的产生和加热机制,共振吸收和真空加热对超热电子都有贡献,其中占主导地位的加热机制则是共振吸收对电子的加热。     

Effects of density profile and multi-species target on laser-heated thermal-pressure-driven shock wave acceleration

The shock wave acceleration of ions driven by laser-heated thermal pressure is studied through one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation and analysis. The generation of high-energy mono-energetic protons in recent experiments （D. Haberberger et al., 2012 Nat. Phys. 8 95） is attributed to the use of exponentially decaying density profile of the plasma target. It does not only keep the shock velocity stable but also suppresses the normal target normal sheath acceleration. The effects of target composition are also examined, where a similar collective velocity of all ion species is demonstrated. The results also give some reference to future experiments of producing energetic heavy ions.     

激光尾场加速电子的密度梯度注入的解析处理

在激光尾场加速电子的机理中, 引入适当的密度梯度容易实现并控制电子注入到等离子体波中实现加速. 迄今对密度梯度注入的理论研究主要采用粒子模拟. 本文发展了一种解析处理密度梯度注入的方法, 分析了密度下降区域中电子的注入和加速. 给出了一维密度梯度中电子注入发生的条件, 采用哈密顿力学得到了线性条件下密度梯度区的电子相空间分界线(separatrix); 讨论了密度梯度区电子注入的时间对电子进入密度均匀区持续加速的影响. 用粒子模拟验证了分析结果.     

利用CR39上的径迹鉴别激光加速离子产物

分别利用单能的质子束及碳离子束辐照CR39,并制定了规范的刻蚀条件及流程。通过对处理完成后的数据进行详细处理,得到了质子及碳离子的径迹直径-能量的响应曲线,可用于确定CR39上质子或碳离子的能量。以此为依据,得到了鉴别CR39上质子及碳离子的有效方法。在激光加速离子的实验中,通过测量CR39上的径迹大小及相对灰度,利用本文给出的标定数据,确认了质子径迹,得到了实验的质子能谱。     

利用CR39上的径迹鉴别激光加速离子产物

分别利用单能的质子束及碳离子束辐照CR39,并制定了规范的刻蚀条件及流程。通过对处理完成后的数据进行详细处理,得到了质子及碳离子的径迹直径-能量的响应曲线,可用于确定CR39上质子或碳离子的能量。以此为依据,得到了鉴别CR39上质子及碳离子的有效方法。在激光加速离子的实验中,通过测量CR39上的径迹大小及相对灰度,利用本文给出的标定数据,确认了质子径迹,得到了实验的质子能谱。     

Recent progress of laser driven particle acceleration at Peking University

Recently, radiation pressure acceleration （RPA） has been proposed and extensively studied, which shows that circularly polarized （CP） laser pulses can accelerate mono-energetic ion bunches in a phase-stable-acceleration （PSA） way from ultrathin foils. It is found that self-orgizing proton beam can be stably accelerated to GeV in the interaction of a CP laser with a planar target at 1022 W/cm2. A project called Compact LAser Plasma proton Accelerator （CLAPA） is approved by MOST in China recently. A prototype of laser driven proton accelerator （1 to 15 MeV/1 Hz） based on the PSA mechanism and plasma lens is going to be built at Peking University in the next five years. It will be upgraded to 200 MeV later for applications such as cancer therapy, plasma imaging and fast ignitiou for inertial confine fusion.     

外加静电场的聚焦激光脉冲真空加速电子方案

采用五阶修正的聚焦激光光场方程模拟研究了由Singh提出的在电子和激光脉冲作用尾部阶段施加外场的加速方案,将Singh方案中采用的外加磁场改成了外加电场,并且考虑了光束的纵向电场和光束衍射效应.模拟结果显示,电子可以从加速相位阶段被外场导入下一个加速相位阶段而不进入减速相位阶段,因此电子能获得比不加外场方案更高的净能增益. 关键词： 强激光 激光加速     

Enhancement of proton acceleration by hot-electron recirculation in thin foils irradiated by ultraintense laser pulses

MeV-proton production from solid targets irradiated by 100-fs laser pulses at intensities above 1x10(20) W cm(-2) has been studied as a function of initial target thickness. For foils 100 microm thick the proton beam was characterized by an energy spectrum of temperature 1.4 MeV with a cutoff at 6.5 MeV. When the target thickness was reduced to 3 microm the temperature was 3.2+/-0.3 MeV with a cutoff at 24 MeV. These observations are consistent with modeling showing an enhanced density of MeV electrons at the rear surface for the thinnest targets, which predicts an increased acceleration and higher proton energies.     

Generation of high quality ion beams through the stable radiation pressure acceleration of the near critical density target

In order to generate high quality ion beams through the stable radiation pressure acceleration(RPA) of the near critical density(NCD) target, we propose a new type of target where an ultra-thin high density(HD) layer is attached to the front surface of an NCD target, which has a preferable self-supporting property in the RPA experiments than the ultra-thin foil target. It is found that in one-dimensional particle-in-cell(PIC) simulation, by the block of the HD layer in the new target,there emerges the hole-boring process rather than propagation in the NCD layer when the intense laser pulse impinges on this target. As a result, a typical RPA structure that the compressed electron layer overlaps the ion layer as a whole is formed and a high quality ion beam is obtained, e.g., a circularly polarized laser pulse with normalized amplitude a_0= 120 impinges on this new target and a 1.2 GeV monoenergetic ion beam is generated through the RPA of the NCD layer. Similar results are also found in the two-dimensional PIC simulation.     

Laser-induced ion acceleration at ultra-high laser intensities

Ion acceleration by ultrashort laser pulses of very high intensities of the order 10²²?W/cm² is studied by two-dimensional Particle-In-Cell simulations. We show that laser normal incidence is preferred for such high intensities. For linearly polarized laser radiation, higher maximum proton/ion energies are achieved than for circular polarization. For linear polarization, the transition from the target normal sheath acceleration to the acceleration on the target front side by the radiation pressure is analyzed in detail. The transition intensity is increasing with the target thickness. The radiation pressure dominated regime leads to considerably higher number of accelerated protons and thus to a higher acceleration efficiency.     

超短脉冲超强激光与固体靶相互作用中高能离子的产生

 用2D3V PIC粒子模拟方法得到了超短脉冲超强激光与固体靶相互作用中高能离子产生的图像，并对其机理进行了研究。在靶前后表面都观察到了高能离子的产生，并诊断了离子能谱。模拟结果表明，在靶前表面所产生的高能离子，角分布较大，在向靶内输运过程中会损失能量；在靶后表面产生的高能离子，定向性很好，能获得很高的能量。模拟得到的离子能量和实验观测结果在量级上相符。     

Ion acceleration from aluminium plasma generated by a femtosecond laser in different conditions

Non-equilibrium plasma was obtained by irradiating Al foils in vacuum with a femtosecond (fs) laser at intensities of the order of 10¹⁸ W/cm². Protons and other light ions were accelerated in the forward direction by using the target-normal-sheath acceleration regime. Time-of-flight technique was employed to measure the ions' kinetic energy using SiC detectors placed at known distances and angles. The ion acceleration was monitored under different conditions of laser focal position, laser pulse energy, and laser contrast. The target was irradiated using different thicknesses and anti-reflecting graphene films. By optimizing the laser parameters, irradiation conditions, and target properties, it was possible to accelerate up to 2.3 MeV per charge state, as will be presented and discussed.     

Enhanced betatron radiation by a modulating laser pulse in laser wakefield acceleration

We propose a new idea to enhance and control the betatron radiation by using a modulating laser pulse in laser wakefield acceleration. In this scheme, a high-power laser pulse is used for self-trapping and acceleration of the plasma electrons and the accelerated electron beam is modulated by a separately-propagating laser pulse for large amplitude betatron oscillations and microbunching. In this way, the relatively low power modulating laser pulse can enhance the X-ray photon flux and energy significantly. We performed two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to demonstrate the idea and the results show that a sub-TW laser pulse is enough for electron beam modulation and it can generate easily-controllable fs X-ray pulses with a wide range of photon energies from soft X-rays to hard X-rays.     

Six MeV proton acceleration from plasma generated by high-intensity laser using advanced thin polyethylene targets

Proton acceleration can be induced by non-equilibrium plasma developed by high-intensity laser pulses, at 10¹⁶ W/cm², irradiating different types of thin polyethylene targets. The process of proton acceleration and directive yield emission was investigated, optimizing the laser parameters, the irradiation conditions, and the target properties. The use of 600 J pulse energy, a laser focalization inducing self-focusing effects and advanced targets with embedded nanoparticles and optimal thicknesses, has permitted to accelerate forward protons up to the energies of about 6 MeV and amount of the order of 10¹⁵ H⁺/pulse. High proton energy is obtained using thin foils enriched with gold nanoparticles, whereas high proton yield is obtained using targets with a thickness of about 10 μm. The plasma diagnostics using SiC semiconductor detectors in time-of-flight configuration was fundamental to monitor the optimal conditions to improve the plasma processes concerning the ion acceleration and the X-ray and relativistic electron emission.     

Eight MeV per charge state from 300 ps laser ion acceleration by using micrometric foils

Proton acceleration using high-intensity laser pulses, at 10¹⁶ W/cm² was studied irradiating different types of thin metal and plastic targets having 1-micron thickness. The maximization of the proton energy process was investigated optimizing the laser parameters, the irradiation conditions and the target properties. Employing 600–700 J laser pulse energy, a focalization inducing self-focusing effects and using targets with optimized thickness, it was possible to accelerate protons up to energies of above 8 MeV. The time-of-flight diagnostics has allowed to monitor the plasma properties and to control the ion acceleration process.     

Theory of laser acceleration of light-ion beams from interaction of ultrahigh-intensity lasers with layered targets

Experiments at the LANL Trident facility demonstrated the production of monoenergetic ion beams from the interaction of an ultraintense laser with a target comprising a heavy ion substrate and thin layer of light ions. An analytic model is obtained that predicts how the mean energy and quality of monoenergetic ion beams and the energy of substrate ions vary with substrate material and light-ion layer composition and thickness. Dimensionless parameters controlling the dynamics are derived and the model is validated with particle-in-cell simulations and experimental data.