Abstract
In this paper, we describe the characteristics of novel laser-electric hybrid accelerators, in which laser-induced plasma generated through laser beam irradiation onto a solid target is additionally accelerated by electrical means instead of by direct acceleration using only a laser beam. As two typical cases of hybrid acceleration, a preliminary study, including thrust performance test with a torsion balance, ion current measurement, and ICCD camera observation, on laser-electrostatic and laser-electromagnetic hybrid accelerations was conducted. For the laser-electrostatic acceleration, it was confirmed that thrust characteristics were successfully improved with an acceleration electrode with either positive or negative potential. As for the laser-electromagnetic acceleration, it was shown that thrust performance could be improved wit
