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We report stable laser-driven proton beam acceleration from ultrathin foilsconsisting of two ion species: heavier carbon ions and lighter protons.Multi-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations show that the radiationpressure leads to very fast and complete spatial separation of the species. Thelaser pulse does not penetrate the carbon ion layer, avoiding the protonRayleigh-Taylor-like (RT) instability. Ultimately, the carbon ions are heatedand spread extensively in space. In contrast, protons always ride on the frontof the carbon ion cloud, forming a compact high quality bunch. We introduce asimple three-interface model to interpret the instability suppression in theproton layer. The model is backed by simulations of various compound foils suchas carbon-deuterium (C-D) and carbon-tritium (C-T) foils. The effects of thecarbon ions' charge state on proton acceleration are also investigated. It isshown that with the decrease of the carbon ion charge state, both the RT-likeinstability and the Coulomb explosion degrade the energy spectrum of theprotons. Finally, full 3D simulations are performed to demonstrate therobustness of the stable two-ion-species regime.

Simulations of stable compact proton beam acceleration from a two-ion-species ultrathin foil