Collisionless Electrostatic Shock Acceleration of Proton using High Intensity Laser

Abstract An experiment on ion acceleration in near-critical density plasma is conducted using a high-intensity 1053nm linearly polarized laser pulse with a laser intensity of 3.5 × 10 18 W/cm 2 . In this experiment a thin 0.7 μ m thick CH foil is irradiated with a low-intensity, nanosecond pulse to create a near-critical density plasma. Then the high-intensity pulse is focused on the target at different time delays in order to verify what density profile is optimal for collisionless shock generation. Ion acceleration and electron spectra are observed by Radio Chromic Film and magnetic electron spectrometer. Proton dominant acceleration is confirmed at some time delays by CR-39. It is suggested that the accelerated ions are produced by Collisionless Electrostatic Shock comparing the experimental results with numerical/computational results.