Laser-driven 1 GeV carbon ions from preheated diamond targets in the break-out afterburner regime

Experimental data are presented for laser-driven carbon C6+ ion-acceleration, verifying 2D-PIC studies for multi-species targets in the Break-Out Afterburner regime. With Trident's ultra-high contrast at relativistic intensities of 5 × 1020 W/cm2 and nm-scale diamond targets, acceleration of carbon ions has been optimized by using target laser-preheating for removal of surface proton contaminants. Using a high-resolution wide angle spectrometer, carbon C6+ ion energies exceeding 1 GeV or 83 MeV/amu have been measured, which is a 40% increase in maximum ion energy over uncleaned targets. These results are consistent with kinetic plasma modeling and analytic theory.

[1]  R. Wood.  XLVII. The resonance spectra of iodine vapour and their destruction by gases of the helium group , 1911 .

[2]  O. Buneman,et al.  Dissipation of Currents in Ionized Media , 1959 .

[3]  P. B. Price,et al.  Ion Explosion Spike Mechanism for Formation of Charged-Particle Tracks in Solids , 1965 .

[4]  D. Melrose.  Reactive and resistive nonlinear instabilities , 1986, Journal of Plasma Physics.

[5]  Michael D. Perry,et al.  Electron, photon, and ion beams from the relativistic interaction of Petawatt laser pulses with solid targets , 2000 .

[6]  J. Cobble,et al.  High resolution laser-driven proton radiography , 2002 .

[7]  A. V. Kuznetsov,et al.  Oncological hadrontherapy with laser ion accelerators , 2002 .

[8]  K. Witte,et al.  MeV ion jets from short-pulse-laser interaction with thin foils. , 2002, Physical review letters.

[9]  M Borghesi,et al.  Highly efficient relativistic-ion generation in the laser-piston regime. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[10]  K. Bowers,et al.  Theory of laser acceleration of light-ion beams from interaction of ultrahigh-intensity lasers with layered targets. , 2006, Physical review letters.

[11]  K. Flippo,et al.  Laser acceleration of quasi-monoenergetic MeV ion beams , 2006, Nature.

[12]  P. Audebert,et al.  Laser-driven proton scaling laws and new paths towards energy increase , 2006 .

[13]  Brian James Albright,et al.  Monoenergetic and GeV ion acceleration from the laser breakout afterburner using ultrathin targets , 2007 .

[14]  Brian James Albright,et al.  Relativistic Buneman instability in the laser breakout afterburner , 2007 .

[15]  K. Bowers,et al.  Ultrahigh performance three-dimensional electromagnetic relativistic kinetic plasma simulationa) , 2008 .

[16]  Jiri Limpouch,et al.  Monoenergetic ion beams from ultrathin foils irradiated by ultrahigh-contrast circularly polarized laser pulses , 2008 .

[17]  J. Cobble,et al.  High-energy, high-resolution x-ray imaging on the Trident short-pulse laser facility. , 2008, The Review of scientific instruments.

[18]  U Schramm,et al.  Controlled transport and focusing of laser-accelerated protons with miniature magnetic devices. , 2008, Physical review letters.

[19]  G. Petrov,et al.  Laser acceleration of light ions from high-intensity laser-target interactions , 2009 .

[20]  Brian James Albright,et al.  Progress and prospects of ion-driven fast ignition , 2009 .

[21]  Tsutomu Shimada,et al.  High-temporal contrast using low-gain optical parametric amplification. , 2009, Optics letters.

[22]  Toshiki Tajima,et al.  Laser Acceleration of Ions for Radiation Therapy , 2009 .

[23]  Y. Ping,et al.  Laser-accelerated proton conversion efficiency thickness scaling , 2009 .

[24]  S. V. Bulanov,et al.  Unlimited energy gain in the laser-driven radiation pressure dominant acceleration of ions , 2009, 0912.1892.

[25]  F. Pegoraro,et al.  Radiation pressure acceleration of ultrathin foils , 2010 .

[26]  G I Dudnikova,et al.  Monoenergetic proton beams accelerated by a radiation pressure driven shock. , 2010, Physical review letters.

[27]  G. R. Bennett,et al.  Efficiency enhancement for Kα x-ray yields from laser-driven relativistic electrons in solids. , 2011, Physical review letters.

[28]  K. A. Flippo,et al.  Increased laser-accelerated proton energies via direct laser-light-pressure acceleration of electrons in microcone targetsa) , 2011 .

[29]  U Schramm,et al.  Development of a high resolution and high dispersion Thomson parabola. , 2011, The Review of scientific instruments.

[30]  D Kiefer,et al.  Monoenergetic ion beam generation by driving ion solitary waves with circularly polarized laser light. , 2011, Physical review letters.

[31]  K. Bowers,et al.  Three-dimensional dynamics of breakout afterburner ion acceleration using high-contrast short-pulse laser and nanoscale targets. , 2010, Physical review letters.

[32]  J. Frenje,et al.  Production of neutrons up to 18 MeV in high-intensity, short-pulse laser matter interactions , 2011 .

[33]  B. Albright,et al.  Experimental demonstration of particle energy, conversion efficiency and spectral shape required for ion-based fast ignition , 2011 .

[34]  K. Bowers,et al.  Mono-energetic ion beam acceleration in solitary waves during relativistic transparency using high-contrast circularly polarized short-pulse laser and nanoscale targets , 2011 .

[35]  B. Albright,et al.  A novel high resolution ion wide angle spectrometer. , 2011, The Review of scientific instruments.

[36]  Brian J. Albright,et al.  Break-out afterburner ion acceleration in the longer laser pulse length regime , 2011 .

[37]  B. Albright,et al.  Dynamics of relativistic transparency and optical shuttering in expanding overdense plasmas , 2012, Nature Physics.

[38]  Andrea Favalli,et al.  Bright laser-driven neutron source based on the relativistic transparency of solids. , 2013, Physical review letters.

[39]  G. Paulus,et al.  Radiation pressure-assisted acceleration of ions using multi-component foils in high-intensity laser–matter interactions , 2013 .

[40]  Brian J. Albright,et al.  Efficient carbon ion beam generation from laser-driven volume acceleration , 2013 .