| The excitation of nonlinear electrostatic waves, such as shock and solitons, by ultraintense laser interaction with overdense plasmas and related acceleration of ions by "reflection" from the wave front have been investigated by particle-in-cell simulations. Conditions on laser and plasma parameters for the generation and stability of both shock- and solitary-like waves are discussed. Wave loading effects prevent in most cases the acceleration of monoenergetic ions. The latter may be generated either by solitary wave "pulsations" or in the case of an initial energy spread in the ion distribution. Relation of these results to recent experiments on "shock acceleration" is also discussed. Ref: A. Macchi, A. Singh Nindrayog, F. Pegoraro, "Solitary versus Shock Wave Acceleration in Laser-Plasma Interactions", arXiv:physics/abs/1111.6392 |
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