Abstract

The dynamics of the plasma ions in the wake fields of short, ultraintense laser pulses in underdense plasmas are investigated analytically and numerically. Owing to the large ion-to-electron mass ratio, the motion of plasma ions in such wake fields has often been assumed to be neglectable. It is shown that when the laser intensity exceeds ${10}^{20}\mathrm{W}∕{\mathrm{cm}}^2$, the ion motion can no longer be ignored. In this case, ion momentum peaks appear behind the laser pulse, which correspond with the ion density peaks. The laser-excited wake field appears to be effective for ion acceleration, in particular to ions with high-charge numbers. The dependence of ion acceleration on the laser intensity, pulse width, and background plasma density is discussed.

© 2006 Optical Society of America

Plasma density ramp for relativistic self-focusing of an intense laser

Devki N. Gupta, Min S. Hur, Ilmoon Hwang, Hyyong Suk, and Ashok K. Sharma
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 24(5) 1155-1159 (2007)

Upper hybrid wave excitation and particle acceleration by resonant beating of two hollow Gaussian laser beams in magnetized plasma

Gunjan Purohit
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 39(8) 2066-2073 (2022)

Electron acceleration by a linearly polarized laser pulse in the presence of a pulsed intense axial magnetic field in vacuum

Kunwar Pal Singh
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 23(8) 1650-1654 (2006)

Harmonic generation from ions in underdense aluminum and lithium–fluorine plasmas

K. Krushelnick, W. Tighe, and S. Suckewer
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 14(7) 1687-1691 (1997)

Plasma Bragg density gratings produced by optical-field ionization

Lu-Le Yu, Zheng-Ming Sheng, and Jie Zhang
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 26(11) 2095-2100 (2009)