Generation of giga-electron-volt proton beams by micronozzle acceleration

Abstract Our proposed ion acceleration scheme, micronozzle acceleration (MNA), generates proton beams with extremely high kinetic energies on the giga-electron-volt (GeV) order. The underlying physics and performance of MNA are studied with two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. In MNA target...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: M. Murakami, D. Balusu, S. Maruyama, Y. Murakami, B. Ramakrishna
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-05-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-03385-x
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Summary:Abstract Our proposed ion acceleration scheme, micronozzle acceleration (MNA), generates proton beams with extremely high kinetic energies on the giga-electron-volt (GeV) order. The underlying physics and performance of MNA are studied with two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. In MNA targets, a micron-sized hydrogen rod is embedded inside a hollow micronozzle. Subsequent illumination of the target along the symmetric axis by an ultraintense ultrashort laser pulse forms a strong electrostatic field with a long lifetime and an extensive space around the downstream tail of the nozzle. The electric field significantly amplifies the kinetic energies of the accelerated protons, and $$\gtrsim$$ GeV protons are generated at an applied laser intensity of $$10^{22}$$ W/ $$\hbox {cm}^2$$ .
ISSN:2045-2322