Journal
JOURNAL OF PLASMA PHYSICS
Volume 87, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0022377821000817
Keywords
intense particle beams; plasma heating; plasma simulation
Categories
Funding
- Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India [CRG/2019/000380]
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The impact of density profiles on micron-sized hydrogen plasma spheres under ultrashort circularly polarized laser irradiation is explored, demonstrating the potential for improving characteristics of accelerated protons through tailored density distributions. Linear and Gaussian-shaped density inhomogeneities are suggested for optimizing the energy and monoenergetic behavior of protons.
The effect of different density profiles on micron-sized hydrogen plasma spheres is investigated when the plasma gets irradiated with an ultrashort circularly polarized laser. In this study, we show that significant improvement in the characteristics of the accelerated protons viz. maximum proton energy, as well as their monoenergetic behaviour, is possible by using a plasma sphere having a tailored density profile. A linear-shaped density inhomogeneity is introduced in the plasma sphere such that the density is peaked at the centre and gradually dropping outwards. The density gradient is tuned by changing the peak density at the centre. The optimum regime of steepness is found for the maximum energy attained by the protons where the target is opaque enough for the radiation pressure to play its role, however not too opaque to inhibit efficient target heating. A novel Gaussian-shaped density profile is suggested which plays an important role in suppressing the sheath field. With a decreased rear-side field, a visible improvement of the monoenergetic feature of the protons is observed.
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