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arXiv · 0905.2068

"Light Sail" Acceleration Revisited

Andrea Macchi·Silvia Veghini·Francesco Pegoraro
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Abstract

The dynamics of the acceleration of ultrathin foil targets by the radiation pressure of superintense, circularly polarized laser pulses is investigated by analytical modeling and particle-in-cell simulations. By addressing self-induced transparency and charge separation effects, it is shown that for "optimal" values of the foil thickness only a thin layer at the rear side is accelerated by radiation pressure. The simple "Light Sail" model gives a good estimate of the energy per nucleon, but overestimates the conversion efficiency of laser energy into monoenergetic ions.

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Andrea Macchi, Silvia Veghini, Francesco Pegoraro. 2009-05-13. "Light Sail" Acceleration Revisited. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.103.085003

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