Enhanced Proton Acceleration from a Thin Target Irradiated by Laser Pulse

The use of thin targets offers optimal conditions for accelerating protons to high energies from laser-matter interaction in the framework of the TNSA (target normal sheath acceleration) mechanism. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations were performed to investigate the effects of thickness and composition of targets in proton acceleration. We will demonstrate how proton energy increases with the target of a low atomic number Z by examining the energy spectra of the different materials He, C, and Al, whereby the maximum proton energy is obtained with a helium target.