Theoretical investigations show that linearly and radially polarized multiterawatt and petawatt laser beams, focused to subwavelength waist radii, can directly accelerate protons and carbon nuclei, over micron-size distances, to the energies required for hadron cancer therapy. Ions accelerated by radially polarized lasers have generally a more favorable energy spread than those accelerated by linearly polarized lasers of the same intensity.
The acceleration of super-heavy ions (SHIs) from plasmas driven by ultrashort (tens of femtoseconds) laser pulses is a challenging topic waiting for breakthrough. The detecting and controlling of the ionization process, and the adoption of the optimal acceleration scheme are crucial for the generation of highly energetic SHIs. Here, we report the experimental results on the generation of deeply ionized super-heavy ions (Au) with unprecedented energy of 1.2 GeV utilizing ultrashort laser pulses (22 fs) at the intensity of 10^22 W/cm2. A novel self-calibrated diagnostic method was developed to a…
The essay gives an overview on researches in the field of laser ion acceleration, focusing on two types of targets. There are many types of targets while they can all be divided into targets that apply single ion or multiple ions. Mixed solid targets are proven efficient in accelerating heavy ions and generate high-quality ion beams with energy divergence lower than 5%. Traditional methods like TNSA are mainly used to accelerate protons or heavy ions and there are still many spaces for modification and improvement. Applications of laser-driven ion beams are wide in fields like detector technol…
Relativistically Induced Transparency Acceleration (RITA) of Protons and Light-ions with Ultrashort Laser Interaction with Heavy-ion Plasma Density Gradient
Monoenergetic acceleration of charge-neutralized ion bunches to GeV-scale energies by the combination of a high-current electron beam and an ionization front
Cornell University（康奈尔大学）；Cornell Laboratory for Plasma Studies（康奈尔等离子体研究实验室）
FLASH radiation therapy calls for the delivery of fast bursted spills of particles with dose delivery times of the order of milliseconds. The requirements overlap with fundamental physics experimental requests that are being studied at CERN, albeit at very different energy scales. In this contribution, a scheme for extracting millisecond bursts from synchrotrons is explored by controlling a third-integer resonant and chromatic extraction with RF phase displacement acceleration. The scheme would be implementable in existing medical and experimental synchrotron facilities. Using a model of the C…
Defect engineering is foundational to classical electronic device development and for emerging quantum devices. Here, we report on defect engineering of silicon single crystals with ion pulses from a laser accelerator with ion flux levels up to 10^22 ions/cm^2/s. Low energy ions from plasma expansion of the laser-foil target are implanted near the surface and then diffuse into silicon samples that were locally pre-heated by high energy ions. We observe low energy ion fluences of ~10^16 cm^-2, about four orders of magnitude higher than the fluence of high energy (MeV) ions. In the areas of high…
An overview of research on laser-plasma based acceleration of ions is given. The experimental state of the art is summarized and recent progress is discussed. The basic acceleration processes are briefly reviewed with an outlook on hybrid mechanisms and novel concepts. Finally, we put focus on the development of engineered targets for enhanced acceleration and of all-optical methods for beam post-acceleration and control.
One of the decisive issues in the design and operation of cyclotrons is the choice of the beam extraction method. Typical methods are extraction by electrostatic extractors and by stripping. The former method requires DC high voltage electrodes which are notorious for high-voltage breakdowns. The latter method requires beams of atomic or molecular ions which are notorious for rest gas and Lorentz stripping. Here we discuss the conditions to be met such that a beam will leave the magnetic field of an isochronous cyclotron purely by fast acceleration.
We examine the impact of the ion dynamics on laser-driven electron acceleration in an initially empty channel irradiated by an ultra-high intensity laser pulse with $I > 10^{22}$ W/cm$^2$. The negative charge of the accelerated electrons inside the channel generates a quasi-static transverse electric field that causes gradual ion expansion into the channel. Once the ions fill the channel, the pinching force from the quasi-static magnetic field generated by the accelerated electrons becomes uncompensated due to the reduction of the quasi-static transverse electric field. As a result there are t…
Collisionless shock acceleration of protons and C$^{6+}$ ions has been achieved by the interaction of a 10$^{20}$ W/cm$^2$, 1 $μ$m laser with a near-critical density plasma. Ablation of the initially solid density target by a secondary laser allowed for systematic control of the plasma profile. This enabled the production of beams with peaked spectra with energies of 10-18 MeV/a.m.u. and energy spreads of 10-20$\%$ with up to 3x10$^9$ particles within these narrow spectral features. The narrow energy spread and similar velocity of ion species with different charge-to-mass ratio are consistent …
