Quasi-monoenergetic Ion Beams Research Articles

Quasi-monoenergetic carbon ions generation from a double-layer target driven by extreme laser pulses

High quality energetic carbon ions produced via laser-plasma have many applications in tumor therapy, fast ignition and warm dense matter generation. However, the beam achieved in current experiments is still limited by either a large energy spread or a low peak energy. In this paper, a hybrid scheme for the generation of quasi-monoenergetic carbon ions is proposed by an ultra-intense laser pulse irradiating a double-layer target. Multi-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations show that the carbon ions are first accelerated via laser piston mechanism in the former carbon layer and then further accelerated by Coulomb repulsion force in the attached neon target. Since electrons are bunched synchronously in longitudinal and transverse direction by radiation reaction during the whole acceleration process, a quasi-monoenergetic carbon ion beam is eventually produced. In the following stage, the neon target provides the Coulomb field required for the continuous acceleration of the carbon ions which helps to prevent the carbon ion layer from diffusion. It is demonstrated that quasi-monoenergetic carbon ions with peak energy of 465 MeV u−1, energy spread of ∼13%, a divergence of ∼15∘, and laser-to-ion energy conversion of 20% can be achieved by using a laser pulse with intensity of 1.23 × 1023 W cm−2. An analytical model is also proposed to interpret the carbon ion acceleration, which is fairly consistent with the PIC simulations.

Simulation and characterization of hot spots generated in deuterium–tritium plasma by fast quasi-monoenergetic ion beams

In this work, a model for the calculation of the temperature field reached by a compressed deuterium–tritium plasma heated by fast quasi-monoenergetic Gaussian ion beams is presented. Furthermore, from simulations performed on a wide range of ion beam parameters the interest in the field of ion fast ignition, an analysis of the properties of the generated hot spot is carried out. We focus the study on the influence of the parameters of the ion beam (particle density, initial mean energy and energy spread) on the spatial temperature field of the heated region and on some relevant parameters of the hot spot such as length, average temperature, maximum temperature and its position. The results presented in this work were obtained for fully ionized vanadium ion beam in a wide range of the beam parameters and for a compressed deuterium–tritium plasma at matter density and temperature given by 500gcm-3 and 1keV, respectively.

High-Quality Laser-Accelerated Ion Beams from Structured Targets

In this work, we reviewed our results on the prospect of increasing the quality of ion acceleration driven by high-intensity laser pulses using low-Z structured targets. It is shown that the radiation pressure acceleration mechanism dominates over target normal sheath acceleration for assumed laser target parameters when the laser intensity is high enough. The target thickness is optimized for this regime and double-layer structure is investigated. When a corrugation is fabricated on the interface of such a target, a relativistic instability with Rayleigh–Taylor and Richtmyer–Meshkov like features can be driven by the target interaction with a high intensity laser pulse. The proper development of this instability leads to the generation of a collimated quasi-monoenergetic ion beam with lower emittance, divergence, and energy spread compared to a single and double-layer target with planar interface. A steep-front laser pulse is used in our simulations to mitigate other type of instabilities arising at the target surface from the laser–target interaction. We discuss the use of a plasma shutter to generate the required pulse profile, which also locally increases intensity. The obtained shape improves the ion acceleration, including higher maximal energy and lower beam divergence, in our simulation of a high-Z target.

Temperature evolution of dense gold and diamond heated by energetic laser-driven aluminum ions

Recent studies have shown that energetic laser-driven ions with some energy spread can heat small solid-density samples uniformly. The balance among the energy losses of the ions with different kinetic energies results in uniform heating. Although heating with an energetic laser-driven ion beam is completed within a nanosecond and is often considered sufficiently fast, it is not instantaneous. Here we present a theoretical study of the temporal evolution of the temperature of solid-density gold and diamond samples heated by a quasimonoenergetic aluminum ion beam. We calculate the temporal evolution of the predicted temperatures of the samples using the available stopping power data and the SESAME equation-of-state tables. We find that the temperature distribution is initially very uniform, which becomes less uniform during the heating process. Then, the temperature uniformity gradually improves, and a good temperature uniformity is obtained toward the end of the heating process.

Theoretical Study of the Efficient Ion Acceleration Driven by Petawatt-Class Lasers via Stable Radiation Pressure Acceleration

Laser-driven radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) is one of the most promising candidates to achieve quasi-monoenergetic ion beams. In particular, many petawatt systems are under construction or in the planning phase. Here, a stable radiation pressure acceleration (SRPA) scheme is investigated, in which a circularly-polarized (CP) laser pulse illuminates a CH2 thin foil followed by a large-scale near-critical-density (NCD) plasma. In the laser-foil interaction, a longitudinal charge-separated electric field is excited to accelerate ions together with the heating of electrons. The heating can be alleviated by the continuous replenishment of cold electrons of the NCD plasma as the laser pulse and the pre-accelerated ions enter into the NCD plasma. With the relativistically transparent propagation of the pulse in the NCD plasma, the accelerating field with large amplitude is persistent, and its propagating speed becomes relatively low, which further accelerates the pre-accelerated ions. Our particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation shows that the SRPA scheme works efficiently with the laser intensity ranging from 6.85×1021 W cm−2 to 4.38×1023 W cm−2, e.g., a well-collimated quasi-monoenergetic proton beam with peak energy ∼1.2 GeV can be generated by a 2.74 × 1022 W cm−2 pulse, and the energy conversion efficiency from the laser pulse to the proton beam is about 16%. The QED effects have slight influence on this SRPA scheme.

Identification of electrostatic two-stream instabilities associated with a laser-driven collisionless shock in a multicomponent plasma.

Electrostatic two-stream instabilities play essential roles in an electrostatic collisionless shock formation. They are a key dissipation mechanism and result in ion heating and acceleration. Since the number and energy of the shock-accelerated ions depend on the instabilities, precise identification of the active instabilities is important. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations in a multicomponent plasma reveal ion reflection and acceleration at the shock front, excitation of a longitudinally propagating electrostatic instability due to a nonoscillating component of the electrostatic field in the upstream region of the shock, and generation of up- and down-shifted velocity components within the expanding-ion components. A linear analysis of the instabilities for a C_{2}H_{3}Cl plasma using the one-dimensional electrostatic plasma dispersion function, which includes electron and ion temperature effects, shows that the most unstable mode is the electrostatic ion-beam two-stream instability (IBTI), which is weakly dependent on the existence of electrons. The IBTI is excited by velocity differences between the expanding protons and carbon-ion populations. There is an electrostatic electron-ion two-stream instability with a much smaller growth rate associated with a population of protons reflecting at the shock. The excitation of the fast-growing IBTI associated with laser-driven collisionless shock increases the brightness of a quasimonoenergetic ion beam.

High-performance ion source generated by ultraviolet laser irradiation of Cu crystals

Ultraviolet laser driven radiation pressure acceleration of Cu crystals is investigated by using particle-in-cell simulations. When an ultrathin Cu crystal is irradiated by a circularly polarized pulse with wavelength λ = 72 nm, waist radius w0=4λ, and normalized magnitude a0=20 (energy of 85 mJ), a plasma with a lattice structure is generated first. Then, an acceleration field of 14.2 TV/cm can be induced by the radiation pressure of the ultraviolet pulse in the target, which is about one order of magnitude larger than that of optical lasers for the same a0, and the lattice structure exerts effect on the acceleration only in the vicinity of the optimal target thickness. As a result, a quasi-monoenergetic Cu ion beam of energy of 5 GeV (75 MeV/nucleon), a charge of 0.12 nC, and the emittance of 7×10−9 m rad can be produced, which implies that using ultraviolet lasers instead of optical lasers should turn down the size and emittance of ion sources by orders lower than that of optical lasers. Therefore, a high-performance ion source is produced, which may have potential applications in medical therapy and ion radiography.

A hybrid simulation of carbon ion beams generation, acceleration and the evaluation of the ignition condition

We have investigated the acceleration of quasi-monoenergetic ion beams. LPIC++ code has been used to simulate the radiation pressure acceleration hole-boring mechanism. To reach the quasi-monoenergetic ion beam used for ionic fast ignition, the beams with low energy spread and suitable peak energy are the best choice. Effective parameters including intensity for laser, thickness, density and charge state for foil have been evaluated to have a stable acceleration. Based on the results, optimal quasi-monoenergetic ion beams of the laser with an intensity of 1.9 ×1021 W / cm2, pure carbon foil with 0.56μm thickness, and density 15 have been selected with the average energy 624 MeV and 720 MeV. Also, by applying the Deira-4 code, the potential of the aforementioned beams with different ignition energies from 8.5-11 kJ has been studied. For the pre-compressed DT fuel capsule with the density 300 g/cm3 and initial temperature 1keV, the ignition conditions have been considered. Subsequently, we found that the ignition threshold conditions for multi-peak beams are more favorable than those of the ideal single-peak beams. It is shown that the ignition energy threshold of multi-peak beams is about 10 kJ, which is more than the ignition energy for the ideal single-peak beams that are close to 7 kJ.

Enhanced ion acceleration in the ultra-intense laser driven magnetized collisionless shocks

The effect of an externally applied magnetic field on the ion acceleration by laser-driven collisionless shocks is examined by means of multi-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. For the interaction of ultra-intense sub-picosecond laser pulses with the near-relativistic critical-density plasma, the longitudinal transport of the laser generated fast electrons are significantly inhibited by the kilo-Tesla (kT) level transverse magnetic field, resulting in a thermal pressure which significantly exceeds the laser radiation pressure in the hot electron accumulation region. As a result, the accumulated plasma expands into the vacuum and leads to acceleration of a supersonic plasma flow in the opposite direction through the rocket effect, which streams into the target and drives a supercritical magnetized collisionless shock. In comparison with the case without the external magnetic field, where an electrostatic collisionless shock can be driven, the energy flux of the shock accelerated quasi-monoenergetic ion beam is considerably increased by an order of magnitude due to the strength enhancement of the magnetized shock.

Shaping of ion energy spectrum due to ionization in ion acceleration driven by an ultra-short pulse laser

In the interaction between an ultra-short laser pulse and an ultra-thin film target, field ionization dominates the plasma formation. The charge and density distribution of the plasma are determined by the laser pulse and the target, and play a crucial role on the following ion acceleration process. In this paper, we study the role of ionization in laser ion acceleration with particle-in-cell simulations. The ion energy spectra in the simulations including ionization are significantly shaped comparing with those from the simulations using a pre-ionized plasma. The shaping of the ion energy spectra is robust in a wide parameter range, in term of laser temporal profile, intensity, duration and target material. This work also shows the possibility to generate quasi-monoenergetic ion beams resulted by ionization. The benchmark simulation well reproduces the narrow bandwidth ion energy spectra, the evolution of the particle number with charge state, and the leaps on the ion energy, those observed in the previous experiments. This study reveals the necessity to include ionization in modeling laser ion acceleration, and provides an approach to understand the shaping of ion energy spectra in the experiments.

Ion acceleration in electrostatic collisionless shock: on the optimal density profile for quasi-monoenergetic beams

A numerical study on ion acceleration in electrostatic shock waves is presented, with the aim of determining the best plasma configuration to achieve quasi-monoenergetic ion beams in laser-driven systems. It was recently shown that tailored near-critical density plasmas characterized by a long-scale decreasing rear density profile lead to beams with low energy spread (Fiúza et al 2012 Phys. Rev. Lett. 109 215001). In this work, a detailed parameter scan investigating different plasma scale lengths is carried out. As result, the optimal plasma spatial scale length that allows for minimizing the energy spread while ensuring a significant reflection of ions by the shock is identified. Furthermore, a new configuration where the required profile has been obtained by coupling micro layers of different densities is proposed. Results show that this new engineered approach is a valid alternative, guaranteeing a low energy spread with a higher level of controllability.

Study of the laser-plasma acceleration of ion beams with enhanced quality: The effects of nanostructured targets

Production of high-quality ion beams by intense laser–plasma interactions represents a rapidly evolving field of interest. In this paper, a nanostructured target is proposed to generate laser-driven quasi-monoenergetic ion beams with considerably reduced energy spread and enhanced peak energy. Linearly polarized, 40-fs laser pulses of intensity 8.5 × 1020 W cm−2 were considered to irradiate simple carbon foil and nanostructured targets. The proposed target consists of a thin layer of relatively high-Z atom (Ti) with a depression on its back surface which is filled by a nanosize disc of a low-Z atom (C). Reliable and reproducible results of multi-parametric Particle-in-Cell simulations show that by using a composed nanostructured target with optimum physical properties, a quasi-monoenergetic ion beam can be generated with a narrow band energy spectrum peaking at energies higher than 20 MeV. In addition, the forward-accelerated beam of low-Z carbon ions exhibits a considerably reduced transverse emittance in comparison with the ion beam obtained in the condition of a simple foil. The proposed nanostructured target can efficiently contribute to the generation of high-quality ion beams which are critical in newly growing applications and physics of laser-plasma accelerators.

Two-stream instability assessment of fast ignition driven by quasi-monoenergetic ions

During the past decade, the generation of energetic ion beams by high-intensity laser-plasma interactions has attracted much interest due to their many applications in high energy density physics and fast ignition. The interaction of the energetic beam with the pre-compressed DT plasma may be accompanied by micro-instabilities along normal and parallel to the beam direction. In application of ions heavier than hydrogen isotopes in fast ignition, we expect that the number of required ions reduces considerably. Here, we present a one-dimensional relativistic beam-plasma instability formulation to investigate the stabilization mode of a flow aligned two-stream instability spectrum where both cold-fluid and kinetic linear theory results are reported. In the latter, the saddle point expansion of the relativistic drift-Maxwellian distribution was applied. The stabilization mode was then extracted by using the Nyquist method. We have also restricted our stability analyses to quasi-monoenergetic ion beams of type Li3+, C6+, Al13+, and V23+ with optimal energies of 140 MeV, 450 MeV, 2.2 GeV, and 5.5 GeV, respectively, proposed by numerical simulations in fast ignition [Honrubia et al. Laser Part. Beams 32, 419 (2014)]. The stable mode is attained by two free system parameters, i.e., beam/plasma density ratio, α, and background plasma temperature, Tp. In the case of low Zb ions, by different degree levels, both parameters push the system to complete stability. However, in the case of high Zb ions, complete stabilization is achieved just through few orders of magnitude lower α. It has also been shown that in complete stabilization of the system, the α parameter scales as an inverse square of ions' atomic number, ∝Zb−2.

Generation of quasi-monoenergetic heavy ion beams via staged shock wave acceleration driven by intense laser pulses in near-critical plasmas

Laser-driven ion acceleration potentially offers a compact, cost-effective alternative to conventional accelerators for scientific, technological, and health-care applications. A novel scheme for heavy ion acceleration in near-critical plasmas via staged shock waves driven by intense laser pulses is proposed, where, in front of the heavy ion target, a light ion layer is used for launching a high-speed electrostatic shock wave. This shock is enhanced at the interface before it is transmitted into the heavy ion plasmas. Monoenergetic heavy ion beam with much higher energy can be generated by the transmitted shock, comparing to the shock wave acceleration in pure heavy ion target. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that quasi-monoenergetic ion beams with peak energy 168 MeV and considerable particle number are obtained by laser pulses at intensity of in such staged shock wave acceleration scheme. Similarly a high-quality ion beam with a well-defined peak with energy 250 MeV and spread can also be obtained in this scheme.

Chirped-Standing-Wave Acceleration of Ions with Intense Lasers.

We propose a novel mechanism for ion acceleration based on the guided motion of electrons from a thin layer. The electron motion is locked to the moving nodes of a standing wave formed by a chirped laser pulse reflected from a mirror behind the layer. This provides a stable longitudinal field of charge separation, thus giving rise to chirped-standing-wave acceleration of the residual ions of the layer. We demonstrate, both analytically and numerically, that stable proton beams, with energy spectra peaked around 100MeV, are feasible for pulse energies at the level of 10J. Moreover, a scaling law for higher laser intensities and layer densities is presented, indicating stable GeV-level energy gains of dense ion bunches, for soon-to-be-available laser intensities.

Quasi-monoenergetic ion beam acceleration by laser-driven shock and solitary waves in near-critical plasmas

Ion acceleration in near-critical plasmas driven by intense laser pulses is investigated theoretically and numerically. A theoretical model has been given for clarification of the ion acceleration dynamics in relation to different laser and target parameters. Two distinct regimes have been identified, where ions are accelerated by, respectively, the laser-induced shock wave in the weakly driven regime (comparatively low laser intensity) and the nonlinear solitary wave in the strongly driven regime (comparatively high laser intensity). Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that quasi-monoenergetic proton beams with a peak energy of 94.6 MeV and an energy spread 15.8% are obtained by intense laser pulses at intensity I0 = 3 × 1020 W/cm2 and pulse duration τ = 0.5 ps in the strongly driven regime, which is more advantageous than that got in the weakly driven regime. In addition, 233 MeV proton beams with narrow spread can be produced by extending τ to 1.0 ps in the strongly driven regime.

Linear dependence of surface expansion speed on initial plasma temperature in warm dense matter

Recent progress in laser-driven quasi-monoenergetic ion beams enabled the production of uniformly heated warm dense matter. Matter heated rapidly with this technique is under extreme temperatures and pressures, and promptly expands outward. While the expansion speed of an ideal plasma is known to have a square-root dependence on temperature, computer simulations presented here show a linear dependence of expansion speed on initial plasma temperature in the warm dense matter regime. The expansion of uniformly heated 1–100 eV solid density gold foils was modeled with the RAGE radiation-hydrodynamics code, and the average surface expansion speed was found to increase linearly with temperature. The origin of this linear dependence is explained by comparing predictions from the SESAME equation-of-state tables with those from the ideal gas equation-of-state. These simulations offer useful insight into the expansion of warm dense matter and motivate the application of optical shadowgraphy for temperature measurement.

Uniform heating of materials into the warm dense matter regime with laser-driven quasimonoenergetic ion beams.

In a recent experiment at the Trident laser facility, a laser-driven beam of quasimonoenergetic aluminum ions was used to heat solid gold and diamond foils isochorically to 5.5 and 1.7 eV, respectively. Here theoretical calculations are presented that suggest the gold and diamond were heated uniformly by these laser-driven ion beams. According to calculations and SESAME equation-of-state tables, laser-driven aluminum ion beams achievable at Trident, with a finite energy spread of ΔE/E∼20%, are expected to heat the targets more uniformly than a beam of 140-MeV aluminum ions with zero energy spread. The robustness of the expected heating uniformity relative to the changes in the incident ion energy spectra is evaluated, and expected plasma temperatures of various target materials achievable with the current experimental platform are presented.

Fast ignition driven by quasi-monoenergetic ions: Optimal ion type and reduction of ignition energies with an ion beam array

AbstractFast ignition of inertial fusion targets driven by quasi-monoenergetic ion beams is investigated by means of numerical simulations. Light and intermediate ions such as lithium, carbon, aluminum and vanadium have been considered. Simulations show that the minimum ignition energies of an ideal configuration of compressed Deuterium-Tritium are almost independent on the ion atomic number. However, they are obtained for increasing ion energies, which scale, approximately, as Z2, where Z is the ion atomic number. Assuming that the ion beam can be focused into 10 µm spots, a new irradiation scheme is proposed to reduce the ignition energies. The combination of intermediate Z ions, such as 5.5 GeV vanadium, and the new irradiation scheme allows a reduction of the number of ions required for ignition by, roughly, three orders of magnitude when compared with the standard proton fast ignition scheme.

Efficient acceleration of dense plasma bunches for fusion-related applications in the LICPA accelerator

The results of particle-in-cell simulations of acceleration of carbon ions and a heavy (0.5 μg) gold micro-projectile in the laser-induced cavity pressure acceleration (LICPA) scheme at the conditions relevant to fast ignition of deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion are presented. It is shown that the LICPA accelerator employing a picosecond 100 kJ laser driver can produce quasi-monoenergetic carbon ion beams of parameters significantly higher than those achieved in the conventional radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) scheme and the beam parameters meet the ion fast ignition requirements fairly well. The LICPA accelerator can also efficiently accelerate the heavy micro-projectile to high velocities (> 5 × 108 cm s−1) required for the impact ignition of DT fusion and the acceleration efficiency for LICPA is almost an order of magnitude higher than that for RPA.