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PRL 105, 135002 (2010) PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 24 SEPTEMBER 2010

High-Energy Ions from Near-Critical Density Plasmas via Magnetic Vortex Acceleration
Tatsufumi Nakamura,* Sergei V. Bulanov, Timur Zh. Esirkepov, and Masaki Kando
Advanced Photon Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 8-1-7 Umemidai, Kizugawa, Kyoto 619-0215, Japan
(Received 26 April 2010; published 23 September 2010)
Ultraintense laser pulses propagating in near-critical density plasmas generate magnetic dipole vortex
structures. In the region of decreasing plasma density, the vortex expands both in forward and lateral
directions. The magnetic field pressure pushes electrons and ions to form a density jump along the vortex
axis and induces a longitudinal electric field. This structure moves together with the expanding dipole
vortex. The background ions located ahead of the electric field are accelerated to high energies. The
energy scaling of ions generated by this magnetic vortex acceleration mechanism is derived and
corroborated using particle-in-cell simulations.

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.135002 PACS numbers: 52.38.Kd, 52.35.We, 52.38.Fz

Irradiation of ultraintense laser pulses onto matter gen- In this Letter, we formulate a simple model of the
erates high-energy density plasmas [1], which opened new magnetic vortex acceleration which explains a high-energy
and active research fields such as fast ignition of inertial ion generation from near-critical density plasmas. The
confinement fusion [2], laboratory astrophysics [3], and motion of magnetic dipole vortex in a nonuniform density
development of a compact source of high-energy electrons plasma is analyzed and the mechanism of resultant ion
[4], positive ions [5], negative ions [6], and photons [7]. acceleration is explained. The energy scaling of ions gen-
Generation of high-energy ions by ultraintense laser erated via this magnetic vortex acceleration is derived, and
pulses has been intensively studied due to its wide range conditions for achieving the magnetic vortex acceleration
of applications including cancer therapy [8], proton radi- are presented.
ography [9], and ion beam fast ignition [10]. Various We first show the numerical results of the magnetic
mechanisms of ion acceleration from laser plasmas have vortex acceleration by using the two-dimensional particle-
been proposed, which are target normal sheath acceleration in-cell (PIC) simulation code [24]. The simulation region is
(TNSA) [11], Coulomb explosion [12], shock acceleration 120
m in the x direction and 41:6
m in the y direction.
[13], and radiation pressure acceleration [14]. Recently, A near-critical density plasma consisting of electrons and
attention has also been paid to an ion acceleration from protons is located in 2 < xð
mÞ < 99 with nonuniform
moderate or near-critical density plasmas which are con- density in the x direction and uniform density in the y
sidered to have an advantage of higher laser-plasma cou- direction. The density is 0:1nc for 2 < xð
mÞ < 13, then
pling. It is suggested that ions are accelerated at the rear linearly increases to the maximum density of n1 ¼ 2nc for
surface of the moderate or near-critical density plasmas by 13 < xð
mÞ < 20, then remains constant for 20<
the sheath field [15] or sheath field with its extended life- xð
mÞ < 45, then linearly decreases to n2 ¼ 0:25nc for
time due to a quasistatic magnetic field generation [16–18]. 45 < xð
mÞ < 54, and remains constant again for 54 <
The interactions between intense laser pulses and near- xð
mÞ < 99. Here, nc ¼ m"0 !20 =e2 is the critical density,
critical density plasmas have been actively studied from m, e, "0 , and !0 represent the electron mass, electric charge,
the perspective of structure formations such as magnetized dielectric constant in vacuum, and laser angular frequency,
channels and magnetic vortices [16,19–21]. Formation and respectively. A laser pulse polarized in the y direction
motion of vortices have also been of considerable interest irradiates the target from the left boundary. The laser power
to nonlinear physics, astrophysics, and plasma physics. A is 100 TW and the pulse duration is 30 fs (FWHM). The
recent study showed that a movement of magnetic dipole laser pulse is focused at x ¼ 8
m with the spot diameter of
vortex in a nonuniform plasma generates high-energy ions 1:67
m (FWHM). The laser wavelength 0 is 0:8
m.
[22], where a rapidly varying magnetic field due to vortex The mesh size is
x ¼
y ¼ 0 =40, which resolves the
motion produces a strong electric field. Although a motion sharp density spike generated in the plasma. The electron
of the dipole vortex is quite complicated, energetic ions can initial temperature is 500 eV, and ions are initially cold.
be generated by controlling the plasma and laser condi- At each simulation boundary, absorbing conditions are
tions. A relevant experiment using cluster-gas targets adopted for both particles and fields.
showed that relatively high-energy ions are generated A magnetic dipole vortex is formed inside the plasma
from a small area [23]. The above model is considered as when the laser energy is almost depleted. The distribution of
a responsible mechanism, and the derivation of the energy the magnetic field of the vortex at t ¼ 220 fs is plotted in
scaling which is needed for the further enhancement of the Fig. 1(a), where the maximum magnetic field intensity
ion energy has been left as a future work. reaches 1.2 gigagauss (GG). In this simulation, the dipole

0031-9007=10=105(13)=135002(4) 135002-1 Ó 2010 The American Physical Society

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PRL 105, 135002 (2010) PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 24 SEPTEMBER 2010

30 10.0
(a) 0.32
0.01

y µ
10
45 50 55 60 65
x µ
10

Electric field
(b)
ion 30

Ion/electron denisty
electron
5 e-field 20
10

0 0
FIG. 1 (color online). The distributions of magnetic field Bz in −10
gigagauss at (a) t ¼ 220 fs and (b) t ¼ 300 fs. A magnetic dipole 45 50 55 60 65
vortex is formed at the end of the high density region, and it x µ
expands as it moves in the density decreasing region. The solid
gray (red) line in (a) shows a density distribution of initial plasma. FIG. 2 (color online). (a) Distribution of ion density normal-
ized by the critical density at t ¼ 320 fs. (b) Distributions of ion
vortex is formed at the end of the high density region, and electron density, and longitudinal electric field along the
i.e., x
45
m. After its formation, the magnetic dipole vortex axis. The ion and electron density is normalized by the
vortex moves down the density gradient with expanding in critical density, and electric field is in TV=m.
both forward and lateral directions. It expands in the for-
ward direction due to the decrease of plasma density and in dipole vortex to form a circular current. This charge sepa-
the lateral direction due to the force acting on the vortex in ration at the spike induces the electrostatic field.
the rn  direction [25]. The expansion leads to decreas- Both the electric field and the ion density spike move
ing of the magnetic field as shown in Fig. 1(b) with its value together with the expanding magnetic dipole vortex with
equal to roughly 500–600 MG. As the magnetic dipole the velocity Vsp . The ions located ahead of the spike are
vortex expands, the magnetic pressure pushes electrons reflected by the moving potential and gain velocity which
and ions out of the region which is filled with the magnetic is roughly twice the Vsp . In the simulation, Vsp
0:28c and
field, i.e., outside the vortex and along the vortex axis. We the maximum ion energy is Ei ¼ 175 MeV. The ion
note that the vortex structure is different from the bubble energy spectrum at t ¼ 500 fs is plotted in Fig. 3(a). The
structure which is formed by electrons kicked aside by laser high-energy component with Ei  60 MeV, which is ac-
pulse and dragged back by electric field. The electron celerated at the vortex front, shows a rather flat profile
evacuation from the bubble induces electric field which is which seems more favorable for the applications than the
utilized for an effective electron acceleration [26], but its exponentially decreasing distribution observed in experi-
action on ion is negligible for the considered laser power. ments using thin-foil targets. The total energy converted
The vortex is formed when the laser pulse is almost depleted into this component is 3.5% of the input laser energy; the
and it dwells in plasma being sustained by the magnetic corresponding ion number is estimated as 6  109 .
field, which is utilized for an effective ion acceleration. Figure 3(b) shows the time history of the maximum ion
The ion density distribution at t ¼ 340 fs is plotted in energy. Ion acceleration starts soon after the vortex ex-
Fig. 2(a), where the density is normalized by the critical pands in the lower density region and finishes within less
density. An ion shell surrounding the vortex and an ion wall than 100 fs. The ion phase plot in the ðx; px Þ plane at
along the vortex axis are formed. The distributions of ion t ¼ 340 fs is shown in Fig. 3(c). It is observed that ions
density, electron density, and longitudinal electric field are accelerated to high energy locally at the vortex front
along the vortex axis are plotted in Fig. 2(b). Ions are where the ion spike is formed. The angular spread of
highly accumulated at the head of the vortex, forming a accelerated ions is evaluated by using the standard devia-
density jump shown as a spike at x
57:5
m. Electrons tion as 8.0 for EðMeVÞ > 150 and 12.4 for 100 <
are distributed in both the front and rear sides of the density EðMeVÞ < 150, which is comparable or smaller than those
spike. In front of the spike, for 57:5 < xð
mÞ  60:0, only of ions generated from thin-foil targets [27].
electrons are accumulated and ion density remains un- We estimate the maximum energy of ions generated via
changed. Those electrons are moving in the forward direc- the magnetic vortex acceleration. The transverse size of the
tion with relativistic speed being driven by the magnetic magnetic vortex formed in the high-density region, shown
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PRL 105, 135002 (2010) PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 24 SEPTEMBER 2010

sp ¼ Vsp =c. As a result, the ion maximum energy per

Ion maximum energy MeV

Ion number arb. unit 6
200
(a)
10 (b)
nucleon is given by
   
ðn þ n2 Þ2 a
4
10 100 Ei 1 Z
¼ Mc2 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  1
mc2 1
2
10 A 1  2i A 2n1 n2
0
  2
0 50 100 150 200 0 100 200 300 400 500 Z mc aL n1
Ion energy MeV Time [fs]
pffiffiffi ; (1)
A 2 2 n2

0.5
(c) where the last form is an approximation for n1  n2 and
aL  1. The energy is determined by the vector potential at
Ion momentum

the vortex formation position and the plasma density ratio.

0 The obtained energy scaling is plotted in Fig. 4 as a function
of the incident laser power. Here the laser pulse is assumed to
0 20 40 60 80 be focused to the 1:67
m spot, as in the above simulation,
x [µm] since the tight focusing condition is important for achieving
long and stable propagation in relatively high density plas-
FIG. 3 (color online). (a) Ion energy spectrum at t ¼ 500 fs. mas [20]. The density ratio is chosen as n1 =n2 ¼ 8 to realize
(b) Time evolution of maximum ion energy, which shows the
the long-living dipole vortex, which will be discussed later.
rapid acceleration by the magnetic vortex acceleration; see also
Ref. [18]. (c) Ion phase plot in the ðx; px Þ plane at t ¼ 340 fs. In this case, the energy scaling is written as EðMeVÞ

pffiffiffiffiffiffi
16:7 PL , where PL is the laser power in units of TW. This
in Fig. 1(a), is roughly equal to the collisionless skin depth scaling predicts that protons with energy of 200 MeV could
pffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi be generated with 100 TW-class lasers. The red circles show
‘s
c a =!p1 , where !p1 ¼ n1 e2 =m"0 , a ¼ the results of PIC simulations. The plasma parameters for
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1 þ a2L =2, and aL is the normalized vector potential equal each simulation, i.e., the width of high density region D and
its density n1 , are summarized in Table I. These parameters
to aL ¼ eAL =ðmcÞ. As the laser energy depletes in a are chosen to realize optimum laser absorption near the
plasma, the laser frequency decreases and the vector po- plasma density gradient. The model prediction and simula-
tential increases [28]. In the simulation, roughly 85% of the tion results show a good agreement. The blue squares are ion
initial laser energy has depleted at the vortex formation energies calculated in Ref. [30] (Table I) by using the TNSA
position, which leads to the increase of vector potential of model, where the laser pulse duration is 36 fs, focal diameter
the laser pulse: aL
2:5a0 , where a0 is the vector poten- is 6
m (FWHM), and target thickness is 1–2
m. Figure 4
tial of the laser pulse in vacuum. From Ampere’s law, the indicates that the magnetic vortex acceleration using near-
magnitude of the magnetic field is calculated as B1 ¼
pffiffiffiffiffiffi critical density target can enhance the ion energy 5–10 times

0 en1 c2 a =!p1 [19]. Because of the vortex expan- compared to the sheath field acceleration using solid targets.
sion, the magnitude of the magnetic field decreases in A recent study of Ref. [18] shows that ions are effectively
accordance with Ertel’s theorem, which states that the accelerated by the sheath field with extended lifetime due to
quantity =n is conserved (see Ref. [29] and references rear surface magnetic field [16,17]. This rear surface accel-
therein). Here ¼ r  P is the generalized vorticity and eration might further enhance the energy of ions which are
P  p  eA is the electron canonical momentum. From accelerated by the magnetic dipole vortex inside the plasma.
Ertel’s theorem, we can estimate the magnetic field ex- The scale length of the density decreasing region deter-
panded in the density decreasing region as B2 ¼ B1 ðn1 þ mines the lateral expansion velocity of the vortex, where the
n2 Þ=ð2n1 Þ. The expansion velocity of the magnetic vortex in scale length is evaluated as ‘ ¼ jn=ðdn=dxÞj
Ln2 =n1 at
the lower density region is obtained from the equation of the end of the density slope. Here, L is the width of the
motion for an ion shell pushed by the magnetic pressure, density decreasing region. The motion of vortex in inho-
which leads to the value of the order of Alfvén velocity, i.e.,
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi mogeneous media was studied in Ref. [25], where the
Vsp ¼ B2 =
0 AMn2 =Z, where Z, A, M, and
0 are ion equation governing the dipole vortex motion was derived
charge, ion mass number, proton mass, and magnetic per- and it is shown that the dipole vortex is accelerated in the
meability in vacuum, respectively. The region with the
electrostatic field moves with the velocity of Vsp in the TABLE I. Plasma parameters used in PIC simulations for
direction opposite of the density gradient. The electric field Fig. 4. D and n1 represent the width of the high density region
reflects background ions located ahead of it. In the comov- and its density. Lower density is chosen as n2 ¼ n1 =8. The
ing frame, the field is stationary and the background ions distribution for x < 20
m is identical to the above simulation.
move to the left with vin ¼ Vsp . Having been reflected PL (TW) 10 50 100 200 500
by the field, ions acquire the velocity vout ¼ þVsp . In the
n1 (units of nc ) 0.7 1.5 2.0 3.0 5.0
laboratory frame of reference, we obtain the velocity D (
m) 20.0 23.0 25.0 23.0 22.0
of the reflected ion: i ¼ vi =c ¼ 2sp =ð1 þ sp Þ, with
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PRL 105, 135002 (2010) PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 24 SEPTEMBER 2010

Ion maximum energy [MeV]

model
*[email protected]
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This work is partially supported by KAKENHI
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Altix3700Bx2 at JAEA-Tokai.
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