Prospects of target nanostructuring for laser proton acceleration.

ABSTRACT: In laser-based proton acceleration, nanostructured targets hold the promise to allow for significantly boosted proton energies due to strong increase of laser absorption. We used laser-induced periodic surface structures generated in-situ as a very fast and economic way to produce nanostructured targets capable of high-repetition rate applications. Both in experiment and theory, we investigate the impact of nanostructuring on the proton spectrum for different laser-plasma conditions. Our experimental data show that the nanostructures lead to a significant enhancement of absorption over the entire range of laser plasma conditions investigated. At conditions that do not allow for efficient laser absorption by plane targets, i.e. too steep plasma gradients, nanostructuring is found to signifi

SUBMITTER: Lubcke A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5349587 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature