Effect of Laser Pulse Profile on Energy of the Accelerated Ions in the Light Sail Regime

In laser acceleration of ions by the radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) mechanism, the efficiency of energy and momentum transfer to ions increases if the shape of the laser pulse is suitably tailored. Numerical results are presented for the Gaussian, Lorentzian, and hyperbolic secant pulse shapes of the incident laser interacting with an ultrathin, ultra-dense plasma foil. The numerical results show that the energy and momentum imparted to the ions by the hyperbolic laser pulse are 1.17 and 1.11 times more compared to the Lorentzian shaped pulse of approximately the same intensity.