High energy protons generation by two sequential laser pulses

The sequential proton acceleration by two laser pulses of relativistic intensity is proposed to produce high energy protons. In the scheme, a relativistic super-Gaussian (SG) laser pulse followed by a Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) pulse irradiates dense plasma attached by underdense plasma. A proton beam is produced from the target and accelerated in the radiation pressure regime by the short SG pulse and then trapped and re-accelerated in a special bubble driven by the LG pulse in the underdense plasma. The advantages of radiation pressure acceleration and LG transverse structure are combined to achieve the effective trapping and acceleration of protons. In a two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation, protons of 6.7 GeV are obtained from a 2 x 10(22) W/cm(2) SG laser pulse and a LG pulse at a lower peak intensity. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC