Short pulse laser interaction with micro-structured targets: simulations of laser absorption and ion acceleration

The interaction of an ultrashort intense laser pulse with thin foil targets is accompanied by the acceleration of ions from the target surface. To make this ion source suitable for application, it is of particular importance to increase the efficiency of laser energy transformation into accelerated ions and the maximum ion energy. This can be achieved by using a thin foil target with a microscopic structure on the front, laser-irradiated surface. The influence of the microscopic structure on the target surface on the laser target interaction and subsequent ion acceleration is studied here using numerical simulations. The influence of the shape and size of the microstructure, the density profile and the laser pulse incidence angle is also studied. Based on the simulation results, we propose to construct the target for ion acceleration experiments by depositing a monolayer of polystyrene microspheres of a size similar to the laser wavelength on the front surface of a thin foil.

[1]  Caterina Riconda,et al.  Strongly enhanced laser absorption and electron acceleration via resonant excitation of surface plasma waves , 2007 .

[2]  T. C. Sangster,et al.  Intense high-energy proton beams from Petawatt-laser irradiation of solids. , 2000, Physical review letters.

[3]  Arie Zigler,et al.  Efficient coupling of high intensity short laser pulses into snow clusters , 2007 .

[4]  Jie Zhang,et al.  A model for the efficient coupling between intense lasers and subwavelength grating targets , 2008 .

[5]  Patrick Audebert,et al.  Double plasma mirror for ultrahigh temporal contrast ultraintense laser pulses. , 2007, Optics letters.

[6]  J. Landry,et al.  Hot electron and x-ray production from intense laser irradiation of wavelength-scale polystyrene spheres , 2007 .

[7]  Herman,et al.  Intense picosecond X-Ray pulses from laser plasmas by use of nanostructured "Velvet" targets , 2000, Physical review letters.

[8]  Michael Giersig,et al.  Shadow Nanosphere Lithography: Simulation and Experiment , 2004 .

[9]  P. Ayyub,et al.  Hotter electrons and ions from nano-structured surfaces , 2008 .

[10]  Boris N. Breizman,et al.  Nonlinear physics of laser-irradiated microclustersa) , 2004 .

[11]  S. Wilks,et al.  Absorption of short laser pulses on solid targets in the ultrarelativistic regime. , 2008, Physical review letters.

[12]  Julien Fuchs,et al.  Laser-accelerated high-energy ions: state of-the-art and applications , 2007 .

[13]  S Meyroneinc,et al.  Ultralow emittance, multi-MeV proton beams from a laser virtual-cathode plasma accelerator. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[14]  Roger W. Falcone,et al.  Efficient coupling of high-intensity subpicosecond laser pulses into solids , 1993 .

[15]  A. A. Andreev,et al.  Pic simulations of femtosecond interactions with mass-limited targets , 2006 .

[16]  P. Ayyub,et al.  Hot ion generation from nanostructured surfaces under intense femtosecond laser irradiation , 2006, physics/0610126.

[17]  Paul Gibbon,et al.  Stability of nanostructure targets irradiated by high intensity laser pulses , 2007 .

[18]  Theo Rasing,et al.  Local-field enhancement on rough surfaces of metals, semimetals, and semiconductors with the use of optical second-harmonic generation , 1984 .

[19]  Xin Wang,et al.  Enhanced surface acceleration of fast electrons by using subwavelength grating targets , 2010 .

[20]  Viktor T. Platonenko,et al.  Efficient heating of near-surface plasmas with femtosecond laser pulses stimulated by nanoscale inhomogeneities , 2005 .

[21]  M. H. Key,et al.  The Physics of Laser Plasma Interactions , 1989 .

[22]  J Limpouch,et al.  Improvement of energy-conversion efficiency from laser to proton beam in a laser-foil interaction. , 2008, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[23]  Michael D. Perry,et al.  Electron, photon, and ion beams from the relativistic interaction of Petawatt laser pulses with solid targets , 2000 .

[24]  H. A. Sumeruk,et al.  Control of strong-laser-field coupling to electrons in solid targets with wavelength-scale spheres. , 2007, Physical review letters.

[25]  Chris J. Hooker,et al.  Enhanced He-α emission from “smoked” Ti targets irradiated with 400 nm, 45 fs laser pulses , 2005 .

[26]  Anders Persson,et al.  Effects of laser prepulses on laser-induced proton generation , 2010 .

[27]  Brunel.  Not-so-resonant, resonant absorption. , 1987, Physical review letters.

[28]  Hiroshi Matsumoto,et al.  A new charge conservation method in electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations , 2003 .

[29]  J. Meyer-ter-Vehn,et al.  Influence of the laser prepulse on proton acceleration in thin-foil experiments. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[30]  O Willi,et al.  Multi-MeV proton source investigations in ultraintense laser-foil interactions. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[31]  F. Réau,et al.  Proton acceleration with high-intensity ultrahigh-contrast laser pulses. , 2007, Physical review letters.

[32]  P P Rajeev,et al.  Metal nanoplasmas as bright sources of hard X-ray pulses. , 2003, Physical review letters.

[33]  P. Mora,et al.  Plasma expansion into a vacuum. , 2003, Physical review letters.

[34]  Hiroshi Matsumoto,et al.  An improved masking method for absorbing boundaries in electromagnetic particle simulations , 2001 .

[35]  Hidetoshi Nakano,et al.  Nanohole-array size dependence of soft x-ray generation enhancement from femtosecond-laser-produced plasma , 2004 .

[36]  Hutchinson,et al.  Multi-keV Electron Generation in the Interaction of Intense Laser Pulses with Xe Clusters. , 1996, Physical review letters.

[37]  Leifeng Cao,et al.  Enhanced absorption of intense short-pulse laser light by subwavelength nanolayered target , 2010 .

[38]  O. Klimo,et al.  Lateral hot electron transport and ion acceleration in femtosecond laser pulse interaction with thin foils , 2010 .

[39]  C D Boley,et al.  Effects of nonionizing prepulses in high-intensity laser-solid interactions. , 2001, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[40]  O Willi,et al.  Hot electrons transverse refluxing in ultraintense laser-solid interactions. , 2010, Physical review letters.

[41]  Deanna M. Pennington,et al.  Energetic proton generation in ultra-intense laser–solid interactions , 2000 .

[42]  Shigeo Kawata,et al.  Efficient energy conversion from laser to proton beam in a laser-foil interaction , 2010 .