Scintillator-based ion beam profiler for diagnosing laser-accelerated ion beams

Green, J.S.; Borghesi, M.; Brenner, C. M.; Carroll, D. C.; Dover, N. P.; Foster, P. S.; Gallegos, P.; Green, S.; Kirby, D.; Kirkby, K.J.; McKenna, P.; Merchant, Michael J; Najmudin, Z.; Palmer, C. A. J.; Parker, David J.; Prasad, R.; Quinn, K.; Rajeev, P. P.; Read, M. P.; Romagnani, L.; Schreiber, J.; Streeter, Matthew; Tresca, O.; Wahlström, Claes‐Göran; Zepf, Matthew; Neely, D.

doi:10.1117/12.888967

Cited by 31 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Roth et al [23] employed the significant time of flight separation of x-ray and neutron pulses at large distances from the source to gate-out the x-ray flash and obtain a neutron radiograph image, detected using an array of scintillating fibres coupled to a CCD chip. Fast decay-time scintillator diagnostics [26,27] are clearly an important requirement for applications of laser-driven neutron beams.…”

Section: Industrial Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser-driven x-ray and neutron source development for industrial applications of plasma accelerators

Brenner

Mirfayzi

Rusby

et al. 2015

Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion

108

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Pulsed beams of energetic x-rays and neutrons from intense laser interactions with solid foils are promising for applications where bright, small emission area sources, capable of multi-modal delivery are ideal. Possible end users of laser-driven multi-modal sources are those requiring advanced non-destructive inspection techniques in industry sectors of high value commerce such as aerospace, nuclear and advanced manufacturing. We report on experimental work that demonstrates multi-modal operation of high power laser-solid interactions for neutron and x-ray beam generation. Measurements and Monte Carlo radiation transport simulations show that neutron yield is increased by a factor ~2 when a 1 mm copper foil is placed behind a 2 mm lithium foil, compared to using a 2 cm block of lithium only. We explore x-ray generation with a 10 picosecond drive pulse in order to tailor the spectral content for radiography with medium density alloy metals. The impact of using >1 ps pulse duration on laser-accelerated electron beam generation and transport is discussed alongside the optimisation of subsequent bremsstrahlung emission in thin, high atomic number target foils. X-ray spectra are deconvolved from spectrometer measurements and simulation data generated using the GEANT4 Monte Carlo code. We also demonstrate the unique capability of laser-driven x-rays in being able to deliver single pulse high spatial resolution projection imaging of thick metallic objects. Active detector radiographic imaging of industrially relevant sample objects with a 10 ps drive pulse is presented for the first time, demonstrating that features of 200 μm size are resolved when projected at high magnification.

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Section: Industrial Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser-driven x-ray and neutron source development for industrial applications of plasma accelerators

Brenner

Mirfayzi

Rusby

et al. 2015

Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion

108

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“…This difference was sufficient for a clear distinction between these particles on the scintillator. By an appropriate choice of the gate’s width and delay with respect to the main pulse we could record the proton beam profile for energies between 3 and 20 MeV 34 . Through a hole in the scintillator aligned to the laser axis, protons could propagate towards a Thomson parabola spectrometer, covering a solid angle of 1.07 μ sr.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient Laser-Driven Proton Acceleration from a Cryogenic Solid Hydrogen Target

Polz

Robinson

Kalinin

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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We report on the successful implementation and characterization of a cryogenic solid hydrogen target in experiments on high-power laser-driven proton acceleration. When irradiating a solid hydrogen filament of 10 μm diameter with 10-Terawatt laser pulses of 2.5 J energy, protons with kinetic energies in excess of 20 MeV exhibiting non-thermal features in their spectrum were observed. The protons were emitted into a large solid angle reaching a total conversion efficiency of several percent. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations confirm our results indicating that the spectral modulations are caused by collisionless shocks launched from the surface of the the high-density filament into a low-density corona surrounding the target. The use of solid hydrogen targets may significantly improve the prospects of laser-accelerated proton pulses for future applications.

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“…The relatively large thickness of our scintillator (5 mm) as compared to previous experiments [10]- [12] has been chosen to ensure that protons in the projected energy range will be stopped. Thus, for single particles a unique relation between pulse height and proton energy is provided.…”

Section: Design Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These comprise passive media like image plates, CR-39 nuclear track detectors, and radio-sensitive films [5], [6] which are convenient for their flexibility, robustness, and simple preparation, but require post-processing after every laser shot. For repeated measurements detectors with real-time readout are preferrable, such as Thomson parabola spectrometers [7], [8], silicon-based pixel detectors [9], and systems based on scintillators [10]- [12] or scintillating fibres [13]. A time-of-flight method for the measurement of proton and ion energies with Faraday cups and semiconductor detectors has been presented in [14].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%