Surface plasmons (polaritons) excited by intense laser pulses at a plasma-vacuum interface can accelerate large numbers of electrons at high energy. The first experimental demonstration of this mechanism used
grating targets for phase matching between the plasmons and the laser wave; the scheme may also allow the generation of near single-cycle plasmons. However, the grating coupling scheme has limitations which can be overcome by using flat targets at grazing incidence. Numerical simulations show the potential of this approach also for proton acceleration, possibly enabling the production of 100-MeV protons with
narrow band spectra using current short pulse laser systems.

The webinar is organized by the Queen's University of Belfast.
Link to the webinar on Teams: https://bit.ly/3GVGajs