Directed Coulomb Explosion during Relativistic Self-Trapping of an Intense Laser Pulse

Abstract

It has been shown that the relativistic self-trapping regime of an intense ultrashort laser pulse propagating in a plasma of a near-critical density can be used to create a highly efficient source of laser-accelerated ions. Practically significant characteristics of protons accelerated mainly due to the directed Coulomb explosion of a charged cavity upon reaching the rear edge of the target during relativistic self-trapping have been obtained in the three-dimensional numerical simulation of proton acceleration. In comparison with the most efficient method of accelerating protons by laser irradiation of ultrathin films, the studied mechanism has demonstrated the possibility of achieving the same, or even slightly higher, record energy of accelerated particles, without requiring ultra-high radiation contrast.