Abstract:
In order to study the proton acceleration of the moving electric field driven by laser radiation pressure, the interaction process between high power laser and laser plasma was analyzed theoretically. 2-D particle-in-cell simulations was used to verify the theoretical analysis result. The results show that when the interaction between ultra-short ultra-intense laser pulse and thin solid flat target in front of the background plasma, a bilayer structure consisted by electron layer and ion layer was generated at the back of the solid target. Under the constant advancement of laser radiation pressure, the double layer structure in the background plasma spreaded at a certain speed and formed a moving electric field. Protons in background plasma were captured by this moving electric field and accelerated to a very high energy. The maximum proton energy reached 20GeV. The results of theoretical analysis are in good agreement with the simulation results of 2-D particle.