The 8th International Conference on Matter and Radiation at Extremes (ICMRE2025)

Novel light fields beyond conventional Gaussian pulses offer compelling opportunities in the field of relativistic laser-plasma interactions. Notably, Bessel-Gaussian lasers, with their intriguing features such as non-diffraction and self-healing, are attracting considerable attentions. Here we explore extreme field generation and high-quality proton acceleration with Bessel-Gaussian lasers. Through 3D particle-in-cell simulations, we show that high harmonics from Bessel-Gaussian laser-driven curved relativistic plasma mirrors exhibit self-healing properties. This nonlinear self-recovery mechanism enables secondary intensification of reflected harmonics beyond the focal region, extending the extreme field region in both space and time, critical for probing strong-field quantum electrodynamics phenomena. To address the challenges of simultaneously increasing cut-off energy, reducing beam divergence, and achieving high repetition rates in laser proton acceleration, we propose magnetic vortex acceleration in near-critical-density plasmas driven by first-order Bessel-Gaussian pulses. The lasers’ unique beam profile facilitates uniform plasma channel formation, generating persistent acceleration fields that produce highly-collimated proton beams reaching 280 MeV at 5×10²¹ W/cm². These results demonstrate the great potential of Bessel-Gausian lasers for advancing relativistic laser-plasmas studies.

magnetic vortex acceleration,relativistic laser plasma physics,high harmonics,laser proton acceleration,Bessel-Gaussian lasers