Thomson Parabola Ion Spectrometer Research Articles

Cryogenic solid deuterium target formation to realize highly pure deuteron acceleration by high-intensity laser

In recent years, laser-driven neutron sources have attracted attention for their applications such as nondestructive analysis and the production of medical radioisotopes. One of the efficient neutron production methods is the use of the 9Be(d, n)10B reaction on a beryllium target with deuterons accelerated by laser–plasma interactions, since this is an exothermic reaction. For efficient deuteron acceleration, we have developed a formation system for solid deuterium targets. A millimeter thick solid deuterium target can be formed with the system. Before the laser shot, the solid deuterium target in the laser chamber can be mechanically moved to the laser irradiation point. We have demonstrated deuteron acceleration by the LFEX laser, and a highly pure deuteron pulse with energies of up to 6.2 MeV was measured with a Thomson parabola ion spectrometer.

Stability and debris-mitigation of a solid tape target delivery system for intense laser-matter interactions towards high-repetition-rate

The VEGA-3 laser system at the Centro de Láseres Pulsados delivers laser pulses up to 1 PW at 1 Hz repetition rate, focused to intensities up to 2.5×1020 W cm−2. A versatile and compact solid target suitable for up to 0.05 Hz is presented which can operate in the challenging petawatt laser environment close to the laser-plasma interaction. Strips are spooled in a tape target system to deliver a solid density target to the laser focus for every shot. Results are presented for different tape materials and thicknesses, and a shot-to-shot standard deviation of the cut-off energy of 1.5% was obtained for Kapton reinforced aluminium tapes of 9 µm thickness. Experimental ion spectra are recorded by a Thomson Parabola Ion Spectrometer coupled with a scintillator screen; and an antenna array is used for the characterization of electromagnetic pulses. The results of both diagnostics show a good shot-to-shot stability of the system.

Mitigation of electromagnetic pulses interfering with Thomson parabola ion spectrometers at XG-III laser facility.

The Thomson parabola ion spectrometer is vulnerable to intense electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) generated by a high-power laser interacting with solid targets. A metal shielding cage with a circular aperture of 1mm diameter is designed to mitigate EMPs induced by a picosecond laser irradiating a copper target in an experiment where additionally an 8-ns delayed nanosecond laser is incident into an aluminum target at the XG-III laser facility. The implementation of the shielding cage reduces the maximum EMP amplitude inside the cage to 5.2 kV/m, and the simulation results indicate that the cage effectively shields electromagnetic waves. However, the laser-accelerated relativistic electrons which escaped the target potential accumulate charge on the surface of the cage, which is responsible for the detected EMPs within the cage. To further alleviate EMPs, a lead wall and an absorbing material (ECCOSORB AN-94) were added before the cage, significantly blocking the propagation of electrons. These findings provide valuable insights into EMP generation in large-scale laser infrastructures and serve as a foundation for electromagnetic shielding design.

Differentiating multi-MeV, multi-ion spectra with CR-39 solid-state nuclear track detectors

The development of high intensity petawatt lasers has created new possibilities for ion acceleration and nuclear fusion using solid targets. In such laser-matter interaction, multiple ion species are accelerated with broad spectra up to hundreds of MeV. To measure ion yields and for species identification, CR-39 solid-state nuclear track detectors are frequently used. However, these detectors are limited in their applicability for multi-ion spectra differentiation as standard image recognition algorithms can lead to a misinterpretation of data, there is no unique relation between track diameter and particle energy, and there are overlapping pit diameter relationships for multiple particle species. In this report, we address these issues by first developing an algorithm to overcome user bias during image processing. Second, we use calibration of the detector response for protons, carbon and helium ions (alpha particles) from 0.1 to above 10 MeV and measurements of statistical energy loss fluctuations in a forward-fitting procedure utilizing multiple, differently filtered CR-39, altogether enabling high-sensitivity, multi-species particle spectroscopy. To validate this capability, we show that inferred CR-39 spectra match Thomson parabola ion spectrometer data from the same experiment. Filtered CR-39 spectrometers were used to detect, within a background of ~ 2 × 1011 sr−1 J−1 protons and carbons, (1.3 ± 0.7) × 108 sr−1 J−1 alpha particles from laser-driven proton-boron fusion reactions.

Compact high repetition rate Thomson parabola ion spectrometer.

We present the development of a compact Thomson parabola ion spectrometer capable of characterizing the energy spectra of various ion species of multi-MeV ion beams from >1020W/cm2 laser produced plasmas at rates commensurate with the highest available from any of the current and near-future PW-class laser facilities. This diagnostic makes use of a polyvinyl toluene based fast plastic scintillator (EJ-260), and the emitted light is collected using an optical imaging system coupled to a thermoelectrically cooled scientific complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor camera. This offers a robust solution for data acquisition at a high repetition rate, while avoiding the added complications and nonlinearities of micro-channel plate based systems. Different ion energy ranges can be probed using a modular magnet setup, a variable electric field, and a varying drift-distance. We have demonstrated operation and data collection with this system at up to 0.2Hz from plasmas created by irradiating a solid target, limited only by the targeting system. With the appropriate software, on-the-fly ion spectral analysis will be possible, enabling real-time experimental control at multi-Hz repetition rates.

Generation of a controllable TNSA deuteron beam using deuterated metal targets

This study investigated the feasibility of using deuterated titanium targets for the generation of a target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) deuteron beam. Commercial 25-μm-thick titanium foil was cut into 500 × 500-μm2 squares and subsequently deuterated using different approaches. The spectra and total yields of all emitted ions were measured using a Thomson parabola ion spectrometer. It was found that a 24-h exposure to 1 atm of D2 gas at 400 °C is the most-efficient deuteration method, producing yields in the mid-1011 deuterons per shot. The deuteron energy spectra changed from an exponential shape at low ion yields to exponentially modified Gaussians at higher yields. Simulations suggest that this effect is due to increased Coulomb interactions between the ions, which suppress the low energies. Separate campaigns will utilize the presented approach to produce a TNSA triton beam. Two such targets will be used in a pitcher/catcher configuration to study the tritium–tritium reaction T(t, 2n)α.

The ELIMAIA Laser–Plasma Ion Accelerator: Technological Commissioning and Perspectives

We report on the technological commissioning of the Laser–Plasma Ion Accelerator section of the ELIMAIA user beamline at the ELI Beamlines facility in the Czech Republic. The high-peak, high-average power L3-HAPLS laser system was used with an energy of ~10 J and pulse duration of ~30 fs on target, both in single-pulse and high repetition-rate (~0.5 Hz) mode. The laser pulse was tightly focused to reach ultrahigh intensity on target (~1021 W/cm2) and sustain such laser–plasma interaction regime during high repetition-rate operations. The laser beam, ion beam, and laser–plasma emission were monitored on a shot-to-shot basis, and online data analysis at 0.5 Hz was demonstrated through the full set of used diagnostics (e.g., far and near field, laser temporal diagnostics, X- and gamma-ray detectors, Thomson Parabola ion spectrometer, time-of-flight ion detectors, plasma imaging, etc.). The capability and reliability of the ELIMAIA Ion Accelerator was successfully demonstrated at a repetition rate of 0.5 Hz for several hundreds of consecutive laser shots.

Distortion of Thomson Parabolic-Like Proton Patterns Due to Electromagnetic Interference

Intense electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) accompany the production of plasma when a high-intensity laser irradiates a solid target. The EMP occurs both during and long after the end of the laser pulse (up to hundreds of nanoseconds) within and outside the interaction chamber, and interferes with nearby electronics, which may lead to the disruption or malfunction of plasma diagnostic devices. This contribution reports a correlation between the frequency spectrum of the EMP and the distortion of Thomson parabola tracks of protons observed at the kJ-class PALS laser facility in Prague. EMP emission was recorded using a simple flat antenna. Ions accelerated from the front side of the target were simultaneously detected by a Thomson parabola ion spectrometer. The comparison of the two signals suggests that the EMP may be considered to be the source of parabolic track distortion.

Heavy-ion emission from short-pulse laser-plasma interactions with thin foils

A Thomson parabola ion spectrometer, implemented on the Laboratory for Laser Energetics Multi-Terawatt laser facility, has been used to study heavy-ion acceleration from ultra-intense laser-plasma interactions. These studies were conducted using 20 μm-thick flat foil targets with on-target intensities of 4−5×1019 W-cm−2. Several charge states of energetic heavy ions were accelerated from the rear of Al and Cu foils in the presence of hydrocarbon contaminants. In contrast to previous work, we show that the mean and maximum energies of each heavy-ion species scale linearly with only the charge of the ion, and not the charge-to-mass ratio, implying that the space-charge is not readily depleted as ions expand. It has been shown previously and observed here that the maximum heavy-ion energies are lower than that of protons, though a fundamental explanation for this discrepancy has not been provided. We show how a two-temperature electron distribution, observed in these experiments, explains these observations.

Production of neutrons up to 18 MeV in high-intensity, short-pulse laser matter interactions

The generation of high-energy neutrons using laser-accelerated ions is demonstrated experimentally using the Titan laser with 360 J of laser energy in a 9 ps pulse. In this technique, a short-pulse, high-energy laser accelerates deuterons from a CD2 foil. These are incident on a LiF foil and subsequently create high energy neutrons through the 7Li(d,xn) nuclear reaction (Q = 15 MeV). Radiochromic film and a Thomson parabola ion-spectrometer were used to diagnose the laser accelerated deuterons and protons. Conversion efficiency into protons was 0.5%, an order of magnitude greater than into deuterons. Maximum neutron energy was shown to be angularly dependent with up to 18 MeV neutrons observed in the forward direction using neutron time-of-flight spectrometry. Absolutely calibrated CR-39 detected spectrally integrated neutron fluence of up to 8 × 108 n sr−1 in the forward direction.

Calibration of a Thomson parabola ion spectrometer and Fujifilm imaging plate detectors for protons, deuterons, and alpha particles

A Thomson parabola ion spectrometer has been designed for use at the Multiterawatt (MTW) laser facility at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) at the University of Rochester. This device uses parallel electric and magnetic fields to deflect particles of a given mass-to-charge ratio onto parabolic curves on the detector plane. Once calibrated, the position of the ions on the detector plane can be used to determine the particle energy. The position dispersion of both the electric and magnetic fields of the Thomson parabola was measured using monoenergetic proton and alpha particle beams from the SUNY Geneseo 1.7 MV tandem Pelletron accelerator. The sensitivity of Fujifilm BAS-TR imaging plates, used as a detector in the Thomson parabola, was also measured as a function of the incident particle energy over the range from 0.6 MeV to 3.4 MeV for protons and deuterons and from 0.9 MeV to 5.4 MeV for alpha particles. The device was used to measure the energy spectrum of laser-produced protons at MTW.

A modified Thomson parabola spectrometer for high resolution multi-MeV ion measurements—Application to laser-driven ion acceleration

A novel Thomson parabola ion spectrometer design is presented, in which a gradient electric field configuration is employed to enable a compact design capable of high resolution measurements of ion energy and charge-to-mass ratio. Practical issues relating to the use of the spectrometer for measurement of ion acceleration in high-power laser-plasma experiments are discussed. Example experimental results for ion acceleration from petawatt-class laser interactions with thin gold target foils are presented.

Pulse intense metal-ion diode with a vacuum arc plasma anode

An intense pulsed ion beam of metal was extracted from a magnetically insulated ion diode operated in a mode of plasma prefill generated from a vacuum arc discharge, anode plasma source. With this ion diode, an intense metal-ion beam of a high melting-point metal (Ta) was obtained. A variety of operational modes appeared, depending on the amount of plasma in the diode gap at the initiation of the high-voltage pulse. The energy, current, and duration time of the ion beam were 20 approximately 100 keV, approximately 1 kA, and 1 mu s, respectively. Measurements of ions were performed with an ion energy analyzer or a biased ion collector located at the end of a long drift tube and a Thomson parabola ion spectrometer. The Ta ions in the first to fifth states of ionization were detected accompanied by C/sup +/, O/sup +/, F/sup +/, and H/sup +/. A Ta ion beam current of about half the total ion flux was obtained in this experiment. >

Generation of an intense metal-ion beam by a pulsed ion diode

Intense pulsed metal-ion beams (∼100 keV, ∼1 kA, 0.5 μs, Pb and Cu) were generated by a pulsed magnetically insulated ion diode driven by a long-pulse Marx generator. The ion current density exceeded the Child–Langmuir value by a factor of 50. The ion beams were extracted from either an anode plasma produced by electron bombardment on a metal anode or by a vacuum-arc metal-plasma source. Metal-ion beams rich in high-energy multi-ionized ions and also impurity ions of H+, C+, and O+ were measured by a Thomson-parabola ion spectrometer and a magnetic mass analyzer. The amount of impurity ions were reduced by conditioning of the anode surface. A design was considered to develop an intense metal-ion source with a total ion current of 1 kA, an ion energy of 100–200 keV, a pulse width of 10 μs, and repetition rate of 10 Hz, all of which correspond to a 100 mA steady-state metal-ion beam.

Development of an intense pulsed metallic ion beam source

Intense pulse metallic ion beams (Al/sup +/, Cu/sup +/, and Pb/sup +/) were produced by a magnetically insulated ion diode having a metal anode. Metal ion plasmas on the anode could be generated through enhanced electron bombardment by using a radial cathode. The energy, current density, and duration time of the lead ion beam were 30 approximately 140 keV, approximately 7.5 A/cm/sup 2/ (total ion current >or=0.5 kA), and 800 ns, respectively. The ion current density exceeded the space-charge-limited current by a factor of 50. The lead ions in the first-to-sixth states of ionization were detected by a Thomson-parabola ion-spectrometer together with light loss, such as C/sup +/ and O/sup +/. The ratio of the ion current of heavy metals to the total ion current was measured using a magnetic mass analyzer with a charge collector. The ratio was about 90% for a lead ion beam and 20 approximately 50% for Al and Cu ion beams. >

Intense Ion Beam Flux of Adsorbed Gases and Metallic Anode Materials in the “Point Pinch Diode” Measured with Thomson-Parabola Ion Spectrometer

An intense flux of ion beams was observed in a “Point Pinch Diode” which consists of concentric elliptic or spherical electrodes and a slender magnetically insulated transmission line. The ion beam had an energy of about 380 keV, which was equivalent to the supplied diode voltage. The peak current density of the ion beam ranged from 5 to 7.5 kA/cm2 in spite of a small input energy (less than about 1 kJ). Measurements with a Thomson-parabola ion spectrometer show that the major components were hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, the origins of which were oil and water adsorbed on the surface of the metallic anodes. A significant flux of the metallic ion beams was also detected in the cases of aluminium, copper and gold anodes.

Modified Thomson parabola ion spectrometer of wide dynamic range

A modified Thomson parabola ion spectrometer of a wide dynamic range for studies of flash ions emitted from laser produced plasmas was developed. The exact velocity distributions of different ion species were obtained separately with sufficient velocity resolution.

Fast-Ion Emission from Co2 Laser-Produced Microballoon Plasmas

Quantitative measurements of fast ions from CO2 laser-produced microballoon plasmas using a Thomson parabola ion spectrometer in conjunction with cellulose nitrate film are reported. The implications of fast-ion fluxes observed at a very large angle with respect to the laser beam axis are discussed.

Quantitative measurements of fast ions from CO2 laser-produced plasmas

The asymptotic behavior of the fast-ion energy spectra has been studied by using a Thomson parabola ion spectrometer to analyze ionic species produced by a 10.6-μm laser-produced polyethylene plasma. The use of cellulose nitrate film detectors has yielded for the first time quantitative information about the charge state and energy distribution of these high-energy ions as a function of laser energy and beam polarization.