Abstract
We report on the acceleration of impurity-free quasimononenergetic proton beams from an initially gaseous hydrogen target driven by an intense infrared () laser. The front surface of the target was observed by optical probing to be driven forward by the radiation pressure of the laser. A proton beam of energy was simultaneously recorded with narrow energy spread (), low normalized emittance (), and negligible background. The scaling of proton energy with the ratio of intensity over density () confirms that the acceleration is due to the radiation pressure driven shock.
- Received 19 October 2010
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.014801
© 2011 The American Physical Society