Hydrodynamic simulations of light ion beam-matter interactions: ablative acceleration of thin foils

Abstract

A one-dimensional model is used to study the hydrodynamic response of thin foils to bombardment by an intense proton beam. The beam targets are single- and multilayer planar foils of gold and polystyrene. The main conclusion of the study is that the efficiency of conversion of incident beam energy to directed kinetic energy of the target is maximized by using a multilayer design. For beam parameters associated with the Gamble II device at the Naval Research Laboratory, the simulations yield payload velocities of over 5 cm/μs and energy conversion efficiencies of over 30%. We discus the implications of these results for inertial confinement fusion research.