• Corpus ID: 248722028

Plasma shutter for improved heavy ion acceleration by ultra-intense laser pulses

@inproceedings{Matys2022PlasmaSF,
  title={Plasma shutter for improved heavy ion acceleration by ultra-intense laser pulses},
  author={M. Matys and S. V. Bulanov and Milan Kucharik and Martin Jirka and Jan Nikl and M. Kecova and Jan Proska and Jan Psikal and Georg Korn and O. Klimo},
  year={2022}
}

• M. Matys, S. Bulanov, +7 authors O. Klimo
• Published 12 May 2022
• Physics

. In this work, we investigate the application of the plasma shutter for heavy ion acceleration driven by a high intensity laser pulse. We use particle-in-cell (PIC) and hydrodynamic simulations. The laser pulse, transmitted through the shutter, gains a steep-rising front and its peak intensity is locally increased at the cost of losing part of its energy. These effects have a direct influence on subsequent ion acceleration from the ultrathin target behind the shutter. In our 3D simulations of silicon nitride plasma shutter and a silver target, the maximal energy of high- Z ions increases significantly when the shutter is included. Moreover, application of the plasma shutter results in focusing of ions towards the laser axis in the plane perpendicular to the laser polarization. The generated high energy ion beam has significantly lower divergence compared to the broad ion cloud, generated without the shutter. The effects of prepulses are also investigated assuming a double plasma shutter. The first shutter can withstand the assumed sub-ns prepulse (treatment of ns and ps prepulses by other techniques is assumed) and the pulse shaping occurs via interaction with the second shutter. On the basis of our theoretical findings, we formulated an idea of a double plasma shutter and built a prototype.