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Shot-resolved transmission gating reveals relativistic transparency onset in laser-driven proton acceleration

Marvin E. P. Umlandt1,2, Milenko Vescovi1,2, Nicholas P. Dover3, Ginevra Casati3, Hiromitsu Kiriyama4, Thomas Kluge1, Akira Kon4, Kotaro Kondo4, Chang Liu4 et al.

Josefine Metzkes-Ng1, Zulfikar Najmudin3, Franziska Paschke-Bruehl1,2, Richard Pausch1, Thomas Püschel1, Vidisha Rana1,2, Hironao Sakaki4, Ulrich Schramm1,2, Pengjie Wang1,*, Nuo Xu3, Tim Ziegler1, Mamiko Nishiuchi4,†, and Karl Zeil1,‡

  • *Present address: Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ultraintense Laser and Advanced Material Technology, Center for Intense Laser Application Technology, and College of Engineering Physics, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, China.
  • †Contact author: nishiuchi.mamiko@qst.go.jp
  • ‡Contact author: k.zeil@hzdr.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033368 – Published 28 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/3cms-dn9p

Abstract

We investigate proton acceleration in the relativistic transparency regime using ultrathin foils irradiated by petawatt-class laser pulses, achieving proton energies exceeding 80MeV. Shot-resolved analysis of transmitted spectra reveals that temporal gating at the onset of relativistically induced transparency shapes the pulse, producing either smooth or modulated spectra. A spectral smoothness metric, benchmarked against particle-in-cell simulations and a semianalytical gating model, demonstrates that different transmission levels correspond to distinct transparency onset times. We find that maximum proton energies are consistent with transparency occurring near the laser pulse peak, while later or absent onset can also drive efficient acceleration. These spectral diagnostics establish a powerful probe of acceleration cascades and a route to understanding and controlling shot-to-shot fluctuations in laser-ion interactions.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033368– Published 28 September, 2026
  • Received 3 December 2025
  • Accepted 18 August 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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