Laser accelerator of ions with a petawatt laser driver: numerical studies of generation of ultra-short heavy ion beams

摘要

The Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) is a large-scale pan-European project currently being implemented in three European countries. It uses cutting-edge laser technologies to build multi-PW lasers capable of generating femtosecond light pulses of ultra-relativistic intensities (~ 10~(23) - 10~(24) W/cm~2), unattainable so far. Such light pulses can accelerate ions to high energies and produce collimated ion beams with unique features that have the potential to be applied in various fields of scientific research, as well as in technological and medical developments. In this paper, the results of numerical studies on the acceleration of heavy (thorium) ions driven by a femtosecond multi-PW laser pulse of ultra-relativistic intensity, performed with the use of a multi-dimensional (2D3V) particle-in cell code, are presented. It is shown that ultra-intense sub-picosecond multi-GeV heavy ion beams with a beam intensity much higher (by a factor of ~ 10~2) and with ion pulse durations much shorter (by a factor of ~ 10~4) than presently achievable in conventional RF-driven accelerators can be produced at laser intensities of 10~(23) W/cm~2 predicted for the ELI lasers. Such ion beams can open the door to new areas of research in nuclear and high energy-density physics, and possibly in other scientific domains.