Laser-driven Acceleration Research Articles

Effect of inside diameter of tip on proton beam produced by intense laser pulse on double-layer cone targets

AbstractThe laser-driven acceleration of proton beams from a double-layer cone target, comprised of a cone shaped high-Z material target with a low density proton layer, is investigated via two-dimensional fully relativistic electro-magnetic particle-in-cell simulations. The dependence of the inside diameter (ID) of the tip size of a double-layer cone target on proton beam characteristics is demonstrated. Our results show that the peak energy of proton beams significantly increases and the divergence angle decreases with decreasing ID size. This can be explained by the combined effects of a stronger laser field that is focused inside the cone target and a larger laser interaction area by reducing the ID size.

Direct Electron Acceleration with Radially Polarized Laser Beams

In the past years, there has been a growing interest in innovative applications of radially polarized laser beams. Among them, the particular field of laser-driven electron acceleration has received much attention. Recent developments in high-power infrared laser sources at the INRS Advanced Laser Light Source (Varennes, Qc, Canada) allowed the experimental observation of a quasi-monoenergetic 23-keV electron beam produced by a radially polarized laser pulse tightly focused into a low density gas. Theoretical analyses suggest that the production of collimated attosecond electron pulses is within reach of the actual technology. Such an ultrashort electron pulse source would be a unique tool for fundamental and applied research. In this paper, we propose an overview of this emerging topic and expose some of the challenges to meet in the future.

Intrinsic normalized emittance growth in laser-driven electron accelerators

Laser-based electron sources are attracting strong interest from the conventional accelerator community due to their unique characteristics in terms of high initial energy, low emittance, and significant beam current. Extremely strong electric fields (up to hundreds of $\mathrm{GV}/\mathrm{m}$) generated in the plasma allow accelerating gradients much higher than in conventional accelerators and set the basis for achieving very high final energies in a compact space. Generating laser-driven high-energy electron beam lines therefore represents an attractive challenge for novel particle accelerators. In this paper we show that laser-driven electrons generated by the nowadays consolidated TW laser systems, when leaving the interaction region, are subject to a very strong, normalized emittance worsening which makes them quickly unusable for any beam transport. Furthermore, due to their intrinsic beam characteristics, controlling and capturing the full beam current can only be achieved improving the source parameters.

Effects of pulse temporal profile on electron bow-wave injection of electrons in laser-driven bubble acceleration

Effects of pulse temporal profile on electron bow-wave injection of electrons in laser-driven bubble acceleration

Investigation of laser-driven proton acceleration using ultra-short, ultra-intense laser pulses

We report optimization of laser-driven proton acceleration, for a range of experimental parameters available from a single ultrafast Ti:sapphire laser system. We have characterized laser-generated protons produced at the rear and front target surfaces of thin solid targets (15 nm to 90 μm thicknesses) irradiated with an ultra-intense laser pulse (up to 1020 W⋅cm−2, pulse duration 30 to 500 fs, and pulse energy 0.1 to 1.8 J). We find an almost symmetric behaviour for protons accelerated from rear and front sides, and a linear scaling of proton energy cut-off with increasing pulse energy. At constant laser intensity, we observe that the proton cut-off energy increases with increasing laser pulse duration, then roughly constant for pulses longer than 300 fs. Finally, we demonstrate that there is an optimum target thickness and pulse duration.

Laser-Driven Proton Acceleration Enhancement by Nanostructured Foils

Nanostructured thin plastic foils have been used to enhance the mechanism of laser-driven proton beam acceleration. In particular, the presence of a monolayer of polystyrene nanospheres on the target front side has drastically enhanced the absorption of the incident 100 TW laser beam, leading to a consequent increase in the maximum proton energy and beam charge. The cutoff energy increased by about 60% for the optimal spheres' diameter of 535 nm in comparison to the planar foil. The total number of protons with energies higher than 1 MeV was increased approximately 5 times. To our knowledge this is the first experimental demonstration of such advanced target geometry. Experimental results are interpreted and discussed by means of 2(1/2)-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.

Dose-controlled irradiation of cancer cells with laser-accelerated proton pulses

Proton beams are a promising tool for the improvement of radiotherapy of cancer, and compact laser-driven proton radiation (LDPR) is discussed as an alternative to established large-scale technology facilitating wider clinical use. Yet, clinical use of LDPR requires substantial development in reliable beam generation and transport, but also in dosimetric protocols as well as validation in radiobiological studies. Here, we present the first dose-controlled direct comparison of the radiobiological effectiveness of intense proton pulses from a laser-driven accelerator with conventionally generated continuous proton beams, demonstrating a first milestone in translational research. Controlled dose delivery, precisely online and offline monitored for each out of ∼4,000 pulses, resulted in an unprecedented relative dose uncertainty of below 10 %, using approaches scalable to the next translational step toward radiotherapy application.

The TARANIS laser : A multi-terawatt system for laser plasma physics

The Terawatt Apparatus for Relativistic And Non-linear Interdisciplinary Science (TARANIS), installed in the Centre for Plasma Physics at the Queen's University Belfast, supports a wide ranging science program, including laser-driven particle acceleration, X-ray lasers and high energy density physics experiments. We present (1) an overview of the laser facility, (2) results of preliminary investigations on proton acceleration, laser action at 13.9 nm and Kα sources and (3) speculation on future experiments using these extreme sources.

A high energy component of the intense laser-accelerated proton beams detected by stacked CR-39

Abstract A precise measurement has been made utilizing a stacked CR-39 detectors unit for laser-accelerated high intensity protons. The proton beams are derived from a thin polyimide target exposed to an high intense Ti:sapphire laser 8 J energy and 40 fs duration. The sample sets, stacked radiochromic film and CR-39 detectors covered with 13 μm aluminum filter, are irradiated under vacuum condition. By analyzing the etch pits on the last layer of CR-39 which recorded etchable tracks, the energies of each proton in high-energy region are evaluated more precisely than in the past. The residual ranges for each particle in the last layer has been obtained from etch pit growth curves with multi-step etching technique. The maximum energy of proton is 14.39 ± 0.05 MeV. This method allows us to measure the maximum energy of proton precisely, which can obtain high energy resolution with uncertainty Δ E = 0.1 MeV in the laser-driven particle acceleration experiment.

Fast ignition upon the implosion of a thin shell onto a precompressed deuterium-tritium ball

Fast ignition of a precompressed inertial confinement fusion (ICF) target by a hydrodynamic material flux is investigated. A model system of hydrodynamic objects consisting of a central deuterium-tritium (DT) ball and a concentric two-layer shell separated by a vacuum gap is analyzed. The outer layer of the shell is an ablator, while the inner layer consists of DT ice. The igniting hydrodynamic flux forms as a result of laser-driven acceleration and compression of the shell toward the system center. A series of one-dimensional numerical simulations of the shell implosion, the collision of the shell with the DT ball, and the generation and propagation of thermonuclear burn waves in both parts of the system are performed. Analytic models are developed that describe the implosion of a thin shell onto a central homogeneous ball of arbitrary radius and density and the initiation and propagation of a thermonuclear burn wave induced by such an implosion. Application of the solution of a model problem to analyzing the implosion of a segment of a spherical shell in a conical channel indicates the possibility of fast ignition of a spherical ICF target from a conical target driven by a laser pulse with an energy of 500–700 kJ.

Stable Charged-Particle Acceleration and Focusing in a Laser Accelerator Using Spatial Harmonics

Regarding the laser-driven acceleration of charged particles in photonic systems, a central unmet challenge is the achievement of simultaneous transverse and longitudinal stability at nonultrarelativistic energies. At such energies, Earnshaw's theorem [S. Earnshaw, Trans. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 7, 97 (1842)] indicates that a synchronous accelerating wave gives a defocusing effect. We present a scheme in which particles are accelerated by interaction with a resonant spatial harmonic and are focused by strong ponderomotive interaction with nonresonant spatial harmonics. We show that this scheme exhibits net transverse focusing and longitudinal stability, and we discuss its use in a compact laser accelerator.

FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS EXPLORED WITH HIGH INTENSITY LASER

Over the last century the method of particle acceleration to high energies has become the prime approach to explore the fundamental nature of matter in laboratory. It appears that the latest search of the contemporary accelerator based on the colliders shows a sign of saturation (or at least a slow-down) in increasing its energy and other necessary parameters to extend this frontier. We suggest two pronged approach enabled by the recent progress in high intensity lasers. First we envision the laser-driven plasma accelerator may be able to extend the reach of the collider. For this approach to bear fruit, we need to develop the technology of high averaged power laser in addition to the high intensity. For this we mention that the latest research effort of ICAN is an encouraging sign. In addition to this, we now introduce the concept of the noncollider paradigm in exploring fundamental physics with high intensity (and large energy) lasers. One of the examples we mention is the laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) far beyond TeV without large luminosity. If we relax or do not require the large luminosity necessary for colliders, but solely in ultrahigh energy frontier, we are still capable of exploring such a fundamental issue. Given such a high energetic particle source and high-intensity laser fields simultaneously, we expect to be able to access new aspects on the matter and the vacuum structure from fundamental physical point of views. LWFA naturally exploits the nonlinear optical effects in the plasma when it becomes of relativistic intensity. Normally nonlinear optical effects are discussed based upon polarization susceptibility of matter to external fields. We suggest application of this concept even to the vacuum structure as a new kind of order parameter to discuss vacuum-originating phenomena at semimacroscopic scales. This viewpoint unifies the following observables with the unprecedented experimental environment we envision; the dispersion relation of photons at extremely short wavelengths in vacuum (a test of the Lorentz invariance), the dispersion relation of the vacuum under high-intensity laser fields (nonperturbative QED and possibly QCD effects), and wave-mixing processes possibly caused by exchanges of low-mass and weakly coupling fields relevant to cosmology with the coherent nature of high-flux photons (search for light dark matter and dark energy). These observables based on polarization susceptibility of vacuum would add novel insights to phenomena discovered in cosmology and particle physics where order parameters such as curvature and particle masses are conventionally discussed. In other words the introduction of high intensity laser and its methodology enriches the approach of fundamental and particle physics in entirely new dimensions.

Absolute energy calibration for relativistic electron beams with pointing instability from a laser-plasma accelerator

The pointing instability of energetic electron beams generated from a laser-driven accelerator can cause a serious error in measuring the electron spectrum with a magnetic spectrometer. In order to determine a correct electron spectrum, the pointing angle of an electron beam incident on the spectrometer should be exactly defined. Here, we present a method for absolutely calibrating the electron spectrum by monitoring the pointing angle using a scintillating screen installed in front of a permanent dipole magnet. The ambiguous electron energy due to the pointing instability is corrected by the numerical and analytical calculations based on the relativistic equation of electron motion. It is also possible to estimate the energy spread of the electron beam and determine the energy resolution of the spectrometer using the beam divergence angle that is simultaneously measured on the screen. The calibration method with direct measurement of the spatial profile of an incident electron beam has a simple experimental layout and presents the full range of spatial and spectral information of the electron beams with energies of multi-hundred MeV level, despite the limited energy resolution of the simple electron spectrometer.

Laser-driven acceleration of neutral particles

Researchers accelerate neutral-charge atoms from rest to a speed of 191 m s−1 over a distance of 10 µm in 70 ns. This method is applicable to many atomic and molecular species, including those without permanent electric or magnetic dipole moments, which is a requirement of some alternative techniques.

Self-injected petawatt laser-driven plasma electron acceleration in 1017 cm−3 plasma

AbstractWe report production of a self-injected, collimated (8 mrad divergence), 600 pC bunch of electrons with energies up to 350 MeV from a petawatt laser-driven plasma accelerator in a plasma of electron density ne = 1017 cm−3, an order of magnitude lower than previous self-injected laser-plasma accelerators. The energy of the focused drive laser pulse (150 J, 150 fs) was distributed over several hot spots. Simulations show that these hot spots remained independent over a 5 cm interaction length, and produced weakly nonlinear plasma wakes without bubble formation capable of accelerating pre-heated (~1 MeV) plasma electrons up to the observed energies. The required pre-heating is attributed tentatively to pre-pulse interactions with the plasma.

Electron bow-wave injection of electrons in laser-driven bubble acceleration

An electron injection regime in laser wake-field acceleration, namely electron bow-wave injection, is investigated by two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation as well as analytical model. In this regime electrons in the intense electron bow wave behind the first bubble catch up with the bubble tail and are trapped by the bubble finally, resulting in considerable enhancement of the total trapped electron number. For example, with the increase of the laser intensity from 2 × 10(19) to 1 × 10(20) W/cm(2), the electron trapping changes from normal self-injection to bow-wave injection and the trapped electron number is enhanced by two orders of magnitude. An analytical model is proposed to explain the numerical observation.

Influence of the ablation threshold fluence on laser-driven acceleration

Laser ablation threshold measurements has been carried out by the nanosecond-class Nd:YAG laser at LNS-INFN in Catania. Advanced targets, such as hydrogen-enriched silicon slabs and sub-micro structured polymeric samples, have been investigated. The estimated ablation fluences are correlated to recent experimental and theoretical results on high intensity laser driven ion acceleration. Characteristics of H-atoms/protons and heavier atoms/ions coming out from the bulk of the irradiated target or from surface contaminants have been determined by optical and time-of-flight spectroscopy as well as mass quadrupole spectrometry.

Design of a subnanometer resolution beam position monitor for dielectric laser accelerators

We present a new concept for a beam position monitor with the unique ability to map particle beam position to a measurable wavelength. Coupled with an optical spectrograph, this beam position monitor is capable of subnanometer resolution. We describe one possible design, and through finite-element frequency-domain simulations, we show a resolution of 0.7 nm. Because of its high precision and ultracompact form factor, this device is ideal for future x-ray sources and laser-driven particle accelerators "on a chip."

Dosimetric effects of energy spectrum uncertainties in radiation therapy with laser-driven particle beams

Laser-driven particle acceleration is a potentially cost-efficient and compact new technology that might replace synchrotrons or cyclotrons for future proton or heavy-ion radiation therapy. Since the energy spectrum of laser-accelerated particles is rather wide, compared to the monoenergetic beams of conventional machines, studies have proposed the usage of broader spectra for the treatment of at least certain parts of the target volume to make the process more efficient. The thereby introduced additional uncertainty in the applied energy spectrum is analysed in this note. It is shown that the uncertainty can be categorized into a change of the total number of particles, and a change in the energy distribution of the particles. The former one can be monitored by a simple fluence detector and cancels for a high number of statistically fluctuating shots. The latter one, the redistribution of a fixed number of particles to different energy bins in the window of transmitted energies of the energy selection system, only introduces smaller changes to the resulting depth dose curve. Therefore, it might not be necessary to monitor this uncertainty for all applied shots. These findings might enable an easier uncertainty management for particle therapy with broad energy spectra.

New methods for high current fast ion beam production by laser-driven acceleration

An overview of the last experimental campaigns on laser-driven ion acceleration performed at the PALS facility in Prague is given. Both the 2 TW, sub-nanosecond iodine laser system and the 20 TW, femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser, recently installed at PALS, are used along our experiments performed in the intensity range 10(16)-10(19) W∕cm(2). The main goal of our studies was to generate high energy, high current ion streams at relatively low laser intensities. The discussed experimental investigations show promising results in terms of maximum ion energy and current density, which make the laser-accelerated ion beams a candidate for new-generation ion sources to be employed in medicine, nuclear physics, matter physics, and industry.