Kaluza M, Schreiber J, Santala MIK, Tsakiris GD, Eidmann K, Meyer-Ter-Vehn J, Witte KJ. Influence of the laser prepulse on proton acceleration in thin-foil experiments.
Phys Rev Lett 2004;
93:045003. [PMID:
15323768 DOI:
10.1103/physrevlett.93.045003]
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Abstract
We investigate the influence of the laser prepulse due to amplified spontaneous emission on the acceleration of protons in thin-foil experiments. We show that changing the prepulse duration has a profound effect on the maximum proton energy. We find an optimal value for the target thickness, which strongly depends on the prepulse duration. At this optimal thickness, the rear side acceleration process leads to the highest proton energies, while this mechanism is rendered ineffective for thinner targets due to a prepulse-induced plasma formation at the rear side. In this case, the protons are primarily accelerated by the front side mechanism leading to lower cutoff energies.
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