Electrostatic field acceleration of laser-driven ion bunch by using double layer thin foils

Abstract

Monoenergetic ion bunch generation and acceleration from double layer thin foil target irradiated by intense linearly polarized (LP) laser pulse is investigated using two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The low-Z ions in the front layer of the target are accelerated by the laser-driven hot electrons and penetrate through the high-Z ion layer to generate a quasi-monoenergetic ion bunch, and this bunch will continue to be accelerated by the quasi-stable electrostatic sheath field which is formed by the immobile high-Z ions and the hot electrons. This mechanism offers possibility to generate monoenergetic ion bunch without ultrahigh-contrast and ultrahigh gradient laser pulses in beam generation experiments, which is confirmed by our simulations.