Ion Acceleration in Laser-Plasma Interaction: Shock, Sheath, and Scaling

Some notes and comments on ion acceleration in laser-plasma interaction is given, in particular for the implication of shock, sheath and scaling. A simple model is proposed for ion acceleration by the combination of shock and sheath. The obtained scaling relations between the maximum ion energy and laser parameters (power, pulse duration) as well plasma parameter (plasma density), for example, Eion, max P7/12L, Eion, max τ1/3L, and Eion,max n2/3e, are compared to the previous works. Some deficiencies and implications of model and results are discussed.