Dresden 2013 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 37: Beschleunigerphysik VIII (PWA II)

HK 37.6: Talk

Tuesday, March 5, 2013, 15:15–15:30, WIL-C205

Effects of the proton layer thickness on the TNSA — •Zsolt Lecz¹, Oliver Boine-Frankenheim^1,2, and Vladimir Kornilov² — ¹TEMF, TU Darmstadt — ²GSI, Darmstadt

This contribution to the LIGHT (Laser Ion Generation, Handling and Transport) project at GSI is devoted to the numerical investigation of the proton acceleration via the TNSA (Target Normal Sheath Acceleration) mechanism. We investigate the acceleration of protons, which are located in a thin hydrogen-rich contamination layer on the rear surface of a thin metal foil interacting with intense and short (several 100 fs) laser pulse. The highly energetic hot electrons, heated by the laser, induce a strong charge separation at the target surface. The spatial profile of the corresponding electric field is studied with a particle-in-cell (PIC) plasma simulation code. Depending on the thickness of the layer the protons can be accelerated in three different ways: quasi-static acceleration for mono-layers, isothermal plasma expansion for thick layers and there is a combined regime for intermediate thicknesses wich is not fully understood. Simulation results exploring this regime will be presented and the effect of the layer thickness on the transverse acceleration (divergence) will be discussed.