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Polarization, Radiation Friction, and Numerical Effects in Three-Dimensional
Simulations of Radiation Pressure Dominant Acceleration
Ion acceleration due to Radiation Pressure Dominant Acceleration (RPDA) of thin plasma foils by superintense (I > 1023 W/cm2) laser pulses has been investigated with 3D PIC simulations having high resolution and including radiation friction (RF) effects. ''Optimal'' RPDA conditions have been found using circular polarization of the laser pulse, for which the most energetic ions are collimated along the axis and their energy actually exceeds the prediction of the ideal ''Light Sail'' scaling in 1D. Linear polarization leads to an anisotropical spatial distribution of ions and lower peak energy. RF effects are significant only for linear polarization and generally lead to and increase of the energy cut-off. A strong increase of the local energy density of the laser pulse focused into the shell generated by the bending of the plasma foil is also observed and may contribute to the higher energy cut-off in 3D along with the effect of foil expansion. The importance of 3D effects and of the numerical resolution in the large 3D runs have been tested by comparison with 2D simulations. Ref: M. Tamburini, T. V. Liseykina, F. Pegoraro, A. Macchi, ''Radiation Pressure Dominant Acceleration: Polarization and Radiation Reaction Effects and Energy Increase in Three Dimensional Simulations'', Phys. Rev. E 85, 016407 (2012) [arXiv:physics/abs/1108.2372] |
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