Bubble regime for ion acceleration in a laser-driven plasma

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2007 Nov;76(5 Pt 2):055402. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.76.055402. Epub 2007 Nov 9.

Abstract

Proton trapping and acceleration by an electron bubble-channel structure in laser interaction with high-density plasma is investigated by using three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is shown that protons can be trapped, bunched, and efficiently accelerated for appropriate laser and plasma parameters, and the proton acceleration is enhanced if the plasma consists mainly of heavier ions such as tritium. The observed results are analyzed and discussed in terms of a one-dimensional analytical three-component-plasma wake model.