• Open Access

Proton Acceleration Driven by a Nanosecond Laser from a Cryogenic Thin Solid-Hydrogen Ribbon

D. Margarone, A. Velyhan, J. Dostal, J. Ullschmied, J. P. Perin, D. Chatain, S. Garcia, P. Bonnay, T. Pisarczyk, R. Dudzak, M. Rosinski, J. Krasa, L. Giuffrida, J. Prokupek, V. Scuderi, J. Psikal, M. Kucharik, M. De Marco, J. Cikhardt, E. Krousky, Z. Kalinowska, T. Chodukowski, G. A. P. Cirrone, and G. Korn
Phys. Rev. X 6, 041030 – Published 8 November 2016

Abstract

A high-power pulsed laser is focused onto a solid-hydrogen target to accelerate forward a collimated stream of protons in the range 0.1–1 MeV, carrying a very high energy of about 30 J (5% laser-ion conversion efficiency) and extremely large charge of about 0.1mC per laser pulse. This result is achieved for the first time through the combination of a sophisticated target system (H2 thin ribbon) operating at cryogenic temperature (10K) and a very hot H plasma (300keV “hot electron” temperature) generated by a subnanosecond laser with an intensity of 3×1016W/cm2. Both the H plasma and the accelerated proton beam are fully characterized by in situ and ex situ diagnostics. Results obtained using the ELISE (experiments on laser interaction with solid hydrogen) H2 target delivery system at PALS (Prague) kJ-class laser facility are presented and discussed along with potential multidisciplinary applications.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
2 More
  • Received 2 April 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.6.041030

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Accelerators & BeamsPlasma Physics

Authors & Affiliations

D. Margarone1,*, A. Velyhan1, J. Dostal2, J. Ullschmied2, J. P. Perin3, D. Chatain3, S. Garcia3, P. Bonnay3, T. Pisarczyk4, R. Dudzak2, M. Rosinski4, J. Krasa1, L. Giuffrida1, J. Prokupek2, V. Scuderi1,6, J. Psikal1,5, M. Kucharik5, M. De Marco1, J. Cikhardt2,5, E. Krousky2, Z. Kalinowska4, T. Chodukowski4, G. A. P. Cirrone6, and G. Korn1

  • 1Institute of Physics ASCR, FZU, ELI-Beamlines project, Prague 182 00, Czech Republic
  • 2Institute of Plasma Physics ASCR, PALS Laboratory, Prague 182 00, Czech Republic
  • 3CEA INAC-SBT, Grenoble 38000, France
  • 4Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion, Warsaw 01-497, Poland
  • 5FNSPE/FEE, Czech Technical University, Prague 166 36, Czech Republic
  • 6Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, INFN, Catania 95125, Italy

  • *Corresponding author. daniele.margarone@eli-beams.eu

Popular Summary

Pure streams of accelerated protons are key for both cancer therapies and experiments in condensed-matter physics. However, targets that are irradiated with high-power lasers often yield proton streams contaminated with carbon and other ions. Here, we focus a high-power pulsed laser onto a solid hydrogen target to accelerate a collimated pure proton stream.

We begin by pushing solid H2 through a nozzle to create a ribbon with a width of 1 mm and a thickness that can be modulated between 20 and 100 μm. Our linearly polarized nanosecond laser has an intensity of roughly , and we focus it on the H2 ribbon in vacuum conditions (105 to 104mbar) at cryogenic temperatures (10 K). We recover a collimated stream of protons with energies in the MeV range that is free of any contaminants. Using another laser as a probe beam, we examine the expansion of the hydrogen plasma at 3 billion kelvin a few nanoseconds before and after the arrival of the laser pulse. We show that the population of protons we recover is 3 times larger than the number of protons derived from a CH2 target. Additionally, we measure a laser-proton acceleration efficiency 2 to 3 times higher than that of previous experiments.

We expect that the potential applications of our proposed acceleration scheme will include nonconventional cancer therapies and nuclear fusion.

Key Image

Article Text

Click to Expand

References

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 6, Iss. 4 — October - December 2016

Subject Areas
Reuse & Permissions
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review X

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

×

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×