ABSTRACT
High-intensity ultrashort laser pulses focused on metal targets readily generate hot dense plasmas which accelerate ions efficiently and can pave way to compact table-top accelerators. Laser-driven ion acceleration studies predominantly focus on protons, which experience the maximum acceleration owing to their highest charge-to-mass ratio. The possibility of tailoring such schemes for the preferential acceleration of a particular ion species is very much desired but has hardly been explored. Here, we present an experimental demonstration of how the nanostructuring of a copper target can be optimized for enhanced carbon ion acceleration over protons or Cu-ions. Specifically, a thin (≈ 0.25 µm) layer of 25-30 nm diameter Cu nanoparticles, sputter-deposited on a polished Cu-substrate, enhances the carbon ion energy by about 10-fold at a laser intensity of 1.2 × 10(18) W/cm(2). However, particles smaller than 20 nm have an adverse effect on the ion acceleration. Particle-in-cell simulations provide definite pointers regarding the size of nanoparticles necessary for maximizing the ion acceleration. The inherent contrast of the laser pulse is found to play an important role in the species selective ion acceleration.
ABSTRACT
We report the effect of the atomic mass of the sputtering gas (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe) on the structure and optical properties of nanocrystalline cuprous oxide (Cu2O) thin films deposited by dc magnetron sputtering. The crystal structure and surface morphology were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) respectively. We find that the atomic mass of the sputtering gas significantly affects the primary crystallite size as well as the surface morphology and texture. Optical reflectance and transmission measurements show that the nanocrystalline thin films are transparent over most of the visible region. The HOMO-LUMO gap obtained from optical absorption spectra show a size-dependent quantum shift with respect to the bulk band gap reported for Cu2O (2.1 eV).
Subject(s)
Copper/chemistry , Gases/chemistry , Membranes, Artificial , Nanostructures/chemistry , Nanostructures/ultrastructure , Crystallization/methods , Hot Temperature , Materials Testing , Molecular Conformation , Nanotechnology/methods , Particle Size , Surface PropertiesABSTRACT
Recent literature has reported impressive enhancements in hard-x-ray emission from short-lived solid plasmas by modulation of the interacting surface with nanostructures. We show that the modification of local electric fields near surface structures results in excessive absorption and enhanced x-ray production. A simple model based on local field variations explains the observed x-ray enhancements quantitatively.
ABSTRACT
We report significant enhancements in light coupling to intense-laser-created solid plasmas via surface plasmon and "lightning rod" effects. We demonstrate this in metal nanoparticle-coated solid targets irradiated with 100 fs, 806 nm laser pulses, focused to intensities approximately 10(14)-10(15) W cm(-2). Our experiments show a 13-fold enhancement in hard x-ray yield (10-200 keV) emitted by copper nanoparticle plasmas formed at the focal volume. A simple model explains the observed enhancement quantitatively and provides pointers to the design of structured surfaces for maximizing such emissions.
