Laser-Ion Acceleration in the Optimized TNSA-Regime via Temporal Pulse Shaping

Establishing precise control over the beam parameters of laser-accelerated ions from the interaction of ultrashort ultra-high intensity (UHI) laser pulses with ultrathin foils has been the major goal of the last 20 years since the first description of the TNSA process. Especially the quest for repeatable, highest maximum energies continues to be challenging as the spatiotemporal coupling of laser-pulse- and target parameters down to the femtosecond-nanometer level was found to be decisive for the overall acceleration performance. In particular, precise control and metrology of the driving UHI laser pulses are paramount to achieving this goal. We present a multi-parameter-space study, bridging the scales from picosecond preplasma formation over transient, non-equilibrium dynamics of the tens of femtosecond laser duration down to attosecond plasma oscillations performed through 1D– up to 3D particle-in-cell simulations. By taking into account realistic temporal intensity contrast features of the last picosecond prior and up to the first picosecond after the main pulse peak, we show how temporal pulse shaping optimizes the TNSA process.