Investigation of accelerated carbon ions with the presence of QED effect by ultra-intense high-power lasers (original) (raw)
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Longitudinal ion acceleration from high-intensity (I ∼ 10 20 Wcm −2 ) laser interactions with helium gas jet targets (n e ≈ 0.04n c ) have been observed. The ion beam has a maximum energy for He 2+ of (40 +3 −8 ) MeV and was directional along the laser propagation path, with the highest energy ions being collimated to a cone of less than 10 • . 2D particle-in-cell simulations have been used to investigate the acceleration mechanism. The time varying magnetic field associated with the fast electron current provides a contribution to the accelerating electric field as well as providing a collimating field for the ions. A strong correlation between the plasma density and the ion acceleration was found. A short plasma scale-length at the vacuum interface was observed to be beneficial for the maximum ion energies, but the collimation appears to be improved with longer scale-lengths due to enhanced magnetic fields in the ramp acceleration region.