Characteristics of laminar ion beams accelerated via a few-joule laser pulse

Abstract

Laser-driven carbon ion beams from a carbon foil target via a 2.5-J laser pulse are investigated with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. An ion bunch with a narrow energy range exhibits a thin shell shape with a certain diameter. The ion cloud has a layered structure of these ion bunches with different energies. The divergences of the ion bunch in the laser inclination direction and perpendicular to it are different in an oblique incidence laser. In addition, theoretical formulas for the radius of the generated ion beam and the energy spectrum are derived, and they are shown to be in good agreement with the simulation results.