Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme

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P: Fachverband Plasmaphysik

P 15: Poster: Theorie/Modellierung

P 15.3: Poster

Wednesday, March 14, 2012, 16:30–19:00, Poster.III

Proton acceleration by a radially polarized chirped laser pulse — •Jian-Xing Li¹, Yousef I. Salamin^1,2, Benjamin J. Galow¹, and Christoph H. Keitel¹ — ¹Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics, Saupfercheckweg 1, D-69029 Heidelberg, Germany — ²Department of Physics, American University of Sharjah, POB 26666, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Radially polarized light has a number of distinct features that make it uniquely suitable for certain applications, of which particle acceleration is only one. The electric field associated with such light has two components: an axial component E_z, oscillating along the direction of propagation, and a radial component E_r that oscillates transversely towards and away from the beam axis. E_z can be used to efficiently accelerate particles, while E_r helps to confine them to regions close to the beam axis, thus producing a good quality accelerated particle beam. The fact that tight-focusing of a radially polarized beam may be done more efficiently than in the case of a linearly polarized one, makes the former a better candidate for particle acceleration than the latter. Unfortunately, radially polarized light is difficult to produce, except at very low intensity from very low-power beams. Simulations have already been made that qualify such beams, if available in the near future, for the purpose of accelerating protons to energies suitable for applications in radiotherapy. When the frequency of such a beam is also chirped, lower intensities would be needed for the desired applications. Results from single- and many-particle calculations, supported by particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, will be presented.