Improve beam quality of laser proton acceleration with funnel-shaped-hole target

Improve beam quality of laser proton acceleration using a funnel-shaped-hole target is demonstrated through particle simulations. When an intense short pulse laser illuminates a thin foil target with a hole at the rear surface, the proton beam divergence is suppressed compared with that obtained in a traditional flat target. In this paper, a funnel-shaped-hole target is proposed to improve the proton beam quality. Using two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, three different shapes of target (funnel-shaped-hole target, cylinder-shaped-hole target and flat target) are simulated and compared. The funnel-shaped hole in the rear surface of the target helps to focus the electron cloud significantly and improve the maximum proton energy and suppress the proton beam divergence. Different thicknesses of the new target are also simulated, and the effects of thickness on the divergence angle and proton spectra are investigated. The optimal size of the new target is obtained and the quality of the proton beam is improved significantly. The funnel-shaped-hole target serves as a new method to improve the proton beam quality in laser–plasma interactions.