Enhancement of laser-driven ion acceleration by laser pulse shaping via plasma shutter*

A plasma shutter [1,2] is usually a thin solid foil that is placed in front of the main target in the laser-target interaction. The laser pulse with its prepulses then needs to burn through it which can improve the laser pulse contrast and its intensity profile. This includes the generation of a steep rising front [3] and intensity increase [4]. The new pulse shape can improve the consequent ion acceleration from the additional target [5] and reduce the development of short-wavelength instabilities [6].

In this work, we study the effects of the plasma shutter on ion acceleration from an additional target with the help of 2D and 3D PIC simulations using code EPOCH. We also consider a setup using two plasma shutters, where the first of them is expanded by prepulses simulated by hydrodynamic simulations. We demonstrate a substantial increase in maximal energy of accelerated heavy ions when a thin plasma shutter is added into the interaction of a PW-class laser pulse with the main target.