Compression and acceleration of ions by ultrashort, ultraintense azimuthally polarized light.

An efficient plasma compression scheme using azimuthally polarized light is proposed. Azimuthally polarized light possesses a donutlike intensity pattern, enabling it to compress and accelerate ions toward the optical axis across a wide range of parameters. When the light intensity reaches the relativistic regime of 10^{18}W/cm^{2}, and the plasma density is below the critical density, protons can be compressed and accelerated by the toroidal soliton formed by the light.