Nature Communications (Sep 2016)

Towards optical polarization control of laser-driven proton acceleration in foils undergoing relativistic transparency

  • Bruno Gonzalez-Izquierdo,
  • Martin King,
  • Ross J. Gray,
  • Robbie Wilson,
  • Rachel J. Dance,
  • Haydn Powell,
  • David A. Maclellan,
  • John McCreadie,
  • Nicholas M. H. Butler,
  • Steve Hawkes,
  • James S. Green,
  • Chris D. Murphy,
  • Luca C. Stockhausen,
  • David C. Carroll,
  • Nicola Booth,
  • Graeme G. Scott,
  • Marco Borghesi,
  • David Neely,
  • Paul McKenna

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12891
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Intense laser pulse interaction with ultra-thin foils constitutes a promising approach for proton acceleration. Here the authors show that the degree of ellipticity in the laser beam polarization can be used to control the proton beam profile.