| Abstract: | 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. |
