Abstract
We report on the first results of experiments with a new laser-based proton beam line at the GSI accelerator facility in Darmstadt. It delivers high current bunches at proton energies around 9.6 MeV, containing more than ${10}^{9}$ particles in less than 10 ns and with tunable energy spread down to 2.7% ($\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}\mathrm{E}/{\mathrm{E}}_{0}$ at FWHM). A target normal sheath acceleration stage serves as a proton source and a pulsed solenoid provides for beam collimation and energy selection. Finally a synchronous radio frequency (rf) field is applied via a rf cavity for energy compression at a synchronous phase of $\ensuremath{-}90\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{deg}$. The proton bunch is characterized at the end of the very compact beam line, only 3 m behind the laser matter interaction point, which defines the particle source.
Highlights
Laser-based ion acceleration as a source for intense, MeV-range ion bunches has been discussed for many possible applications since their discovery
We report on the first results of experiments with a new laser-based proton beam line at the GSI
The operation of the beam line is foreseen at an injection phase of −90 deg for energy compression
Summary
Laser-based ion acceleration as a source for intense, MeV-range ion bunches has been discussed for many possible applications since their discovery. This can be done with a synchronous radio frequency (rf) field and has been experimentally demonstrated first by Ikegami et al [17] and later improved by Nishiuchi et al [16] They were able to build an integrated test beam line at 1 Hz for protons up to 2.2 MeV energy with an energy spread of 5% and medium particle numbers of about 5 × 106 protons in the final bunch. In Germany, the LIGHT collaboration [20] has built such a test beam line at the GSI Helmholtz center for heavy ion research as a central part of the collaboration’s agenda It differs, significantly from the Japanese one, as it is designed for higher energies, highest bunch intensities, and a final energy spread of less than 3%.
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