Acceleration of ions in the corona of laser fusion pellets for fast ignition

Experiments on the interaction of high power lasers with laser fusion targets have shown evidence of shock-like structures with very high electric fields existing over very short distances. These fields are responsible for ion acceleration and species separation in the laser fusion targets. It has also been demonstrated using particle in cell simulations, (E. Boella et al., Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 379, 20200039, 2021) that an intense laser pulse, distinct from the drive laser, interacting with the long scale-length corona plasma is able to launch a collisionless shock around the critical density. The shock structure travels rapidly up the density gradient reflecting and accelerating ions to MeV energies leading to the possibility of fast ignition using these shock accelerated ions. The accelerated ions generate plasma turbulence that can influence the spectrum of accelerated ions. We will present results of the role plasma turbulence plays in the propagation of the shock wave and ion acceleration as well as considering the effect of magnetic fields on the shock dynamics. This latter part makes connection with magnetised target fusion (MTF) experiments.