Influence of proton beam Coulomb explosion in laser proton acceleration

To further understand proton acceleration driven by the interaction between ultra-intense laser pulse and foil targets, the influence of proton beam Coulomb explosion has been analyzed theoretically and investigated using two-dimensional particle-in-cell (2D-PIC) simulations. Employing different proton layer sizes in the simulations, it is found that proton beam Coulomb explosion plays an important role on proton acceleration, in particular on proton cut off energy. Proton dynamics including the effect of both sheath field and proton beam Coulomb explosion was proposed and discussed in detail. This work may serve to improve the understanding of proton acceleration driven by intense laser-foil interactions.