Enhanced proton acceleration from an ultrathin double-foil target with circularly polarized laser pulses

作者：Z. Liu, Ming Zhao, Jianxing Zhuang, Wei Peng, Hao Sun, Xun Chen, Yan Zhang, Yifan Zheng, Yangfan Shao, Yi Xu, Yuxin Leng, Jianhui Bin, Ruxin Li · 发表于：Physics of Plasmas · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1063/5.0249281 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics、Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications、High-pressure geophysics and materials

The generation of proton beams using ultrathin double-foil targets driven by circularly polarized laser pulses is explored experimentally. A significant increase up to 2.7 times in proton maximum energies is observed with respect to a typical single-foil target. The total number of protons was increased by a factor of 6. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations agree with the experimental data and suggest that such an increase is attributable to a more pronounced radiation pressure acceleration process when the circularly polarized laser pulse propagates through the first nanometer thin foil and undergoes strong pulse shaping via relativistic nonlinearities.