Control of energy distribution of the proton beam with an oblique incidence of the laser pulse

Morita, Toshimasa; Bulanov, S. V.; Esirkepov, T. Z.; Koga, J. K.; Yamagiwa, Mitsuru

We investigate proton acceleration by a laser pulse obliquely incident on a double layer target via 3D PIC simulations. It is found that the proton beam energy spread changes by the laser irradiation position and it reaches a minimum at certain position. This provides a way to control the proton energy spectrum. We show that by appropriately adjusting the size and position of the second proton layer that high energy protons with much smaller energy spread can be obtained.