Study on the coupling and ion acceleration between ultraintense laser and multilayer solid targets

Abstract

This study focuses on optimizing beam driving modes to enhance laser-target coupling efficiency and improve particle quality in laser-driven ion acceleration. The aim is to increase proton and ion beam energy. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are conducted to investigate the proton beam generated by a Petawatt laser-driven multilayer target. The results indicate that optimal space overlap between the laser and targets improves energy coupling efficiency. Numerical simulation results indicate that the overlap of two laser pulses in front of the target, specifically at the same focal point, results in the generation of higher-energy ion beams. This result is primarily attributed to the enhanced longitudinal electric field under such conditions, which leads to increased energies of protons and ions. By adjusting the longitudinal size of the CH layer, a high-quality proton beam with a maximum cut-off energy of approximately 290 MeV and a small energy spread of 5.2\(\%\) and 14.7\(\%\) is achieved