Energetic ions generated by laser pulses: A detailed study on target properties

Roth, Markus; Blažević, A.; Geißel, Matthias; Schlegel, T.; Cowan, T. E.; Allen, M.; Gauthier, J. C.; Audebert, P.; Fuchs, Julien; Meyer‐ter‐Vehn, Jürgen; Hegelich, B. M.; Karsch, Stefan; Pukhov, A.

doi:10.1103/physrevstab.5.061301

Cited by 227 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Many of the reported measurements on laser-driven proton acceleration have involved laser pulses with typical contrast in the range 10 5 -10 7 . As a result, Al target foils with thickness greater than a few microns are usually employed to ensure that the ASE-pedestal does not induce an expansion of the target rear surface (Roth et al 2002). Using laser pulses with contrast of approximately 10 6 , for example, Spencer and co-workers (McKenna et al 2002;Spencer et al 2003) observed the highest proton energies from Al target foils of thicknesses of approximately 12 mm, with a sharp cut-off with thinner foils.…”

Section: Effects Of Laser Pulse Contrast On Ion Accelerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-intensity laser-driven proton acceleration: influence of pulse contrast

McKenna

Lindau²,

Lundh³

et al. 2006

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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Proton acceleration from the interaction of ultra-short laser pulses with thin foil targets at intensities greater than 10 18 W cm −2 is discussed. An overview of the physical processes giving rise to the generation of protons with multi-MeV energies, in well defined beams with excellent spatial quality, is presented. Specifically, the discussion centres on the influence of laser pulse contrast on the spatial and energy distributions of accelerated proton beams. Results from an ongoing experimental investigation of proton acceleration using the 10 Hz multi-terawatt Ti : sapphire laser (35 fs, 35 TW) at the Lund Laser Centre are discussed. It is demonstrated that a window of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) conditions exist, for which the direction of proton emission is sensitive to the ASE-pedestal preceding the peak of the laser pulse, and that by significantly improving the temporal contrast, using plasma mirrors, efficient proton acceleration is observed from target foils with thickness less than 50 nm.

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Section: Effects Of Laser Pulse Contrast On Ion Accelerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-intensity laser-driven proton acceleration: influence of pulse contrast

McKenna

Lindau²,

Lundh³

et al. 2006

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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“…As soon as the shockwave breaks out at the rear surface it creates a density gradient, which disrupts proton acceleration [74].…”

Section: Laser Contrastmentioning

confidence: 99%

Z-petawatt driven ion beam radiography development.

Schollmeier¹,

Geißel²,

Rambo³

et al. 2013

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Laser-driven proton radiography provides electromagnetic field mapping with high spatiotemporal resolution, and has been applied to many laser-driven High Energy Density Physics (HEDP) experiments. Our report addresses key questions about the feasibility of ion radiography at the Z-Accelerator ("Z"), concerning laser configuration, hardware, and radiation background. Charged particle tracking revealed that radiography at Z requires GeV scale protons, which is out of reach for existing and near-future laser systems. However, it might be possible to perform proton deflectometry to detect magnetic flux compression in the fringe field region of a magnetized liner inertial fusion experiment. Experiments with the Z-Petawatt laser to enhance proton yield and energy showed an unexpected scaling with target thickness. Full-scale, 3D radiation-hydrodynamics simulations, coupled to fully explicit and kinetic 2D particle-in-cell simulations running for over 10 ps, explain the scaling by a complex interplay of laser prepulse, preplasma, and ps-scale temporal rising edge of the laser.4

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“…This space charge phenomenon is an important issue in a large number of applications, including proton-based fast ignition, heavy-ion fusion drivers, isochoric heating of matter in high energy density laboratory plasma (HEDLP) experiments, particle cancer therapy, etc (Roth et al, 2001;Roth et al, 2002;Roth et al, 2009;Patel et al, 2003;Bartal et al, 2011;Henestroza et al, 2011;Yang et al, 2010;Borgheshi et al, 2010;Romagani et al, 2008). Beam collimation, which is a special case of focusing, is also needed for density radiography or injection into a transport lattice of a conventional accelerator.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility study of the magnetic beam self-focusing phenomenon in a stack of conducting foils: Application to TNSA proton beams

Logan

Lund

et al. 2012

Laser Part. Beams

Self Cite

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Keywords: particle beam self-focusing, magnetic pinch, TNSA proton beam focusing, proton fast ignition, TNSA proton beam collimation. AbstractThis paper investigates prospects of utilizing a high-power laser-driven target-normalsheath-acceleration (TNSA) proton beam for the experimental demonstration of the magnetic self-focusing phenomenon in charged particle beams. In the proposed concept, focusing is achieved by propagating a space-charge dominated ion beam through a stack of thin conducting and grounded foils separated by vacuum gaps. As the beam travels through the system, image charges build up at the foils and generate electric field that counteracts the beam's electrostatic self-field -a dominant force responsible for expansion of a high current beam. Once the electrostatic self-field is "neutralized" by the image charges, the beam current's magnetic self-field will do the focusing. The focal spot size and focal length depends on the choice of a number of foils and distance between foils. Considering the typical electrical current level of a TNSA proton beam, we conclude that it is feasible to focus or collimate a beam within tens of millimeters distance, e.g., using 200-1000 Al foils, 0.5 µm thick each, with foil spacing ranging from 25 µm to 100 µm. These requirements are within technical capabilities of modern target fabrication, thus allowing the first possible demonstration of the pinch effect with heavy ion beams.

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Energetic ions generated by laser pulses: A detailed study on target properties

Cited by 227 publications

References 24 publications

High-intensity laser-driven proton acceleration: influence of pulse contrast

High-intensity laser-driven proton acceleration: influence of pulse contrast

Z-petawatt driven ion beam radiography development.

Feasibility study of the magnetic beam self-focusing phenomenon in a stack of conducting foils: Application to TNSA proton beams

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