Abstract
Laser-driven proton acceleration is a field of growing interest, in particular for its numerous applications, including in the field of materials science. A benefit of these laser-based particle sources is their potential for a relative compactness in addition to some characteristics at the source that differ from those of conventional, radio-frequency based proton sources. These features include, e.g., a higher brilliance, a shorter duration, and a larger energy spread. Recently, the use of laser-accelerated protons has been proposed in the field of Cultural Heritage, as alternative source for the Particle Induced X-ray Emission diagnostic (“laser-PIXE”), a particular ion beam analysis (IBA) technique that allows to precisely analyse the chemical composition of the material bulk. In this paper we study the feasibility of the laser-PIXE using laser-accelerated proton beams. We focus on materials specifically of interest for the Cultural Heritage domain. Using Geant4 simulations, we show that the laser-PIXE allows analysing a larger volume than conventional PIXE, profiting from the large energy spread of laser-accelerated protons. Furthermore, for specific materials, the large energy spread allows investigating multilayer materials, providing an advantage compared to conventional PIXE technologies.
Highlights
In the last decade, laser-driven particle acceleration, obtained by interaction of a high-power laser with a target, has become a rapidly expanding field due to the unique characteristics of these beams
Strong attention has been devoted to applications in materials science, with some pioneering works published recently[10,11,12,13,14,15]. This includes investigations associated with Cultural Heritage[16], since the field is currently hampered by the lack of techniques and diagnostics suitable for the conservation and the preservation of artworks or monuments[17,18]
The use of laser-generated protons has been introduced for generating Particle Induced X- and Gamma-ray Emission spectroscopy (PIXE/PIGE) from materials[11]
Summary
Laser-driven particle acceleration, obtained by interaction of a high-power laser with a target, has become a rapidly expanding field due to the unique characteristics of these beams. From the figure we can see that the number of bremsstrahlung photons increases with the penetration depth of protons: higher energy protons generate more secondary processes, i.e., processes that are not specific for the PIXE and that produce bremsstrahlung emission.
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