Abstract
A method to achieve stable radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) of heavy ions from laser-irradiated ultrathin foils is proposed, where a high- material coating in front is used. The coated high- material, acting as a moving electron repository, continuously replenishes the accelerating heavy ion foil with comoving electrons in the light-sail acceleration stage due to its successive ionization under laser fields with Gaussian temporal profile. As a result, the detrimental effects such as foil deformation and electron loss induced by the Rayleigh-Taylor-like and other instabilities in RPA are significantly offset and suppressed so that stable acceleration of heavy ions are maintained. Particle-in-cell simulations show that a monoenergetic beam with peak energy 3.8 GeV and particle number (charge ) can be obtained at intensity .
- Received 11 June 2016
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.204802
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