Advanced targets,diagnostics and applications of laser-generated plasmas

High-intensity sub-nanosecond-pulsed lasers irradiating thin targets in vacuum permit generation of electrons and ion acceleration and high photon yield emission in non-equilibrium plasmas. At intensities higher than 10¹⁵?W/cm² thin foils can be irradiated in the target-normal sheath acceleration regime driving ion acceleration in the forward direction above 1?MeV per charge state. The distributions of emitted ions in terms of energy, charge state and angular emission are controlled by laser parameters, irradiation conditions, target geometry and composition. Advanced targets can be employed to increase the laser absorption in thin foils and to enhance the energy and the yield of the ion acceleration process. Semiconductor detectors, Thomson parabola spectrometer and streak camera can be employed as online plasma diagnostics to monitor the plasma parameters, shot by shot. Some applications in the field of the multiple ion implantation, hadrontherapy and nuclear physics are reported.     

Investigation of the effect of plasma waves excitation on target normal sheath ion acceleration using fs laser‐irradiating hydrogenated structures

Measurements of ion acceleration in polymethylmethacrylate foils covered by a thin copper film irradiated by fs laser in target normal sheath acceleration regime are presented. The ion acceleration depends on the laser parameters, such as the pulse energy; depends on the irradiation conditions, such as the focal point position of the laser with respect to the target surface; and depends on the target properties, such as the metallic film thickness. The proton acceleration increases in the presence of the metallic film enhancing the plasma electron density, reaching about 1.6 MeV energy for a focal position on the target surface. The plasma diagnostics uses SiC detectors, absorber foils, Faraday cups, and gafchromic films. Employing p‐polarized laser light and a suitable oblique incidence, it is possible to increase the proton acceleration up to about 2.0 MeV thanks to the effects of laser absorption resonance due to plasma waves excitation.     

Tantalum ion acceleration in laser‐generated plasma and dependence on the pulse duration

The laser irradiation of tantalum targets is presented for different pulsed laser intensities ranging from 10¹⁰ up to about 10¹⁸ W/cm² and pulse durations from 9 ns up to 40 fs. The results show that the produced non‐equilibrium plasma accelerates Ta ions in the backward direction from values of the order of keV up to values of about 5 MeV. In thin foils, the forward plasma, developed behind the target along the direction of incoming laser, at intensities of about 10¹⁶ W/cm² and 300 ps pulse duration, accelerates Ta ions at energies of the order of 4.6 MeV and produces charge states up to about 40+. For fs lasers at intensities of the order of 10¹⁸ W/cm², only proton acceleration occurs up to 2.1 MeV while no Ta ions are accelerated, due to the reduced duration of the electric field and to the too high inertial mass of the Ta ions.     

Six MeV proton acceleration from plasma generated by high-intensity laser using advanced thin polyethylene targets

Proton acceleration can be induced by non-equilibrium plasma developed by high-intensity laser pulses, at 10¹⁶ W/cm², irradiating different types of thin polyethylene targets. The process of proton acceleration and directive yield emission was investigated, optimizing the laser parameters, the irradiation conditions, and the target properties. The use of 600 J pulse energy, a laser focalization inducing self-focusing effects and advanced targets with embedded nanoparticles and optimal thicknesses, has permitted to accelerate forward protons up to the energies of about 6 MeV and amount of the order of 10¹⁵ H⁺/pulse. High proton energy is obtained using thin foils enriched with gold nanoparticles, whereas high proton yield is obtained using targets with a thickness of about 10 μm. The plasma diagnostics using SiC semiconductor detectors in time-of-flight configuration was fundamental to monitor the optimal conditions to improve the plasma processes concerning the ion acceleration and the X-ray and relativistic electron emission.     

Cold electrons acceleration in TNSA laser-generated plasma using a low-contrast fs laser

The fs laser facility in Bordeaux, delivering an intensity of 10¹⁸ W/cm² at normal incidence on thin foils, has been used to induce forward electron and ion acceleration in target-normal-sheath-acceleration (TNSA) regime. Micrometric thin foils with different composition, thickness, and electron density, were prepared to promote the charge particle acceleration in the forward direction. The plasma electron and ion emission monitoring were performed on-line using SiC semiconductor detectors in time-of-flight (TOF) configuration and gaf-chromics films both covered by thin absorber filters. The experiment has permitted to accelerate electrons and protons. A special attention was placed to detect relativistic hot electrons escaping from the plasma and cold electrons returning to the target position. The electron energies of the order of 100 keV and of about 1 keV were detected as representative of hot and cold electrons, respectively. A high cold electron contribution was measured using low-contrast fs laser, while it is less evident using high-contrast fs lasers. The charge particle acceleration depends on the laser parameters, irradiation conditions, and target properties, as will be presented and discussed.     

Near‐3‐MeV protons from target‐normal‐sheath‐acceleration femtosecond laser irradiating advanced targets

Advanced targets based on graphene oxide and gold thin film were irradiated at high laser intensity (10¹⁸–10¹⁹ W/cm²) with 50‐fs laser pulses and high contrast (10⁸) to investigate ion acceleration in the target‐normal‐sheath‐acceleration regime. Time‐of‐flight technique was employed with SiC semiconductor detectors and ion collectors in order to measure the ion kinetic energy and to control the properties of the generated plasma. It was found that, at the optimized laser focus position with respect to the target, maximum proton acceleration up to about 3 MeV energy and low angular divergence could be generated. The high proton energy is explained as due to the high electrical and thermal conductivity of the reduced graphene oxide structure. Dependence of the maximum proton energy on the target focal position and thickness is presented and discussed.     

Study of defect evolution by TEM with in situ ion irradiation and coordinated modeling

The paper describes a novel transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiment with in situ ion irradiation designed to improve and validate a computer model. TEM thin foils of molybdenum were irradiated in situ by 1?MeV Kr ions up to ～0.045 displacements per atom (dpa) at 80°C at three dose rates ?5?×?10^?6, 5?×?10^?5, and 5?×?10^?4?dpa/s – at the Argonne IVEM-Tandem Facility. The low-dose experiments produced visible defect structure in dislocation loops, allowing accurate, quantitative measurements of defect number density and size distribution. Weak beam dark-field plane-view images were used to obtain defect density and size distribution as functions of foil thickness, dose, and dose rate. Diffraction contrast electron tomography was performed to image defect clusters through the foil thickness and measure their depth distribution. A spatially dependent cluster dynamic model was developed explicitly to model the damage by 1?MeV Kr ion irradiation in an Mo thin foil with temporal and spatial dependence of defect distribution. The set of quantitative data of visible defects was used to improve and validate the computer model. It was shown that the thin foil thickness is an important variable in determining the defect distribution. This additional spatial dimension allowed direct comparison between the model and experiments of defect structures. The defect loss to the surfaces in an irradiated thin foil was modeled successfully. TEM with in situ ion irradiation of Mo thin foils was also explicitly designed to compare with neutron irradiation data of the identical material that will be used to validate the model developed for thin foils.     

Proton beam generation by ultra-high intensity laser–solid interaction

We report on some recent experimental results on proton production from ultra-intense laser pulse interaction with thin aluminium and plastic foil targets. These results were obtained at Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée with the 100 TW ‘salle jaune’ laser system, delivering 35 fs laser pulses at 0.8 μm, reaching a maximum intensity on target of a few 10¹⁹ W/cm².

In such extreme interaction conditions, an intense and collimated relativistic electron current is injected from the plasma created on the laser focal spot into the cold interior of the target. Its transport through dense matter, ruled by both collisions and self-induced (electro-magnetic) field effects, is the driving mechanism for proton acceleration from the rear side of thin foils: when reaching and leaving the foil rear-side, the fast electrons create a large charge separation and a huge electrostatic field with a maximum value of few TV/m, capable of accelerating protons.

A parametric study as a function of the laser driver and target parameters indicates an optimal value for target thickness, which strongly depends on the laser prepulse duration. In our experiments, we did irradiate targets of various materials (CH, Al, Au) changing the prepulse duration by using fast Pockels cells in the laser chain. CR-39 nuclear track detectors with Al filters of different thickness and a Thomson parabola were used to detect proton generation. The best results were obtained for 2 μm Al targets, leading to the generation of proton energies with energies up to 12 MeV.     

Eight MeV per charge state from 300 ps laser ion acceleration by using micrometric foils

Proton acceleration using high-intensity laser pulses, at 10¹⁶ W/cm² was studied irradiating different types of thin metal and plastic targets having 1-micron thickness. The maximization of the proton energy process was investigated optimizing the laser parameters, the irradiation conditions and the target properties. Employing 600–700 J laser pulse energy, a focalization inducing self-focusing effects and using targets with optimized thickness, it was possible to accelerate protons up to energies of above 8 MeV. The time-of-flight diagnostics has allowed to monitor the plasma properties and to control the ion acceleration process.     

Experimental investigations of fast-proton production in a picosecond laser plasma

Results of experimental investigations of fast-proton production in a laser plasma are presented for the case where the intensity of laser radiation at the targets is 2 × 10¹⁸ W/cm². Three processes of fast-proton acceleration in laser plasma are investigated: (1) the acceleration of protons from the front surface toward the laser pulse, (ii) the acceleration of protons from the front surface of the target toward its interior, and (iii) the acceleration of protons from the rear foil surface in the outward direction. The activation procedure and CR-39 tracker detectors featuring a set of various-thickness aluminum filters were used to record fast protons. It turned out that the proton-acceleration process is the most efficient in the case of proton acceleration from the rear foil surface in the outward direction. Experimental results revealed that about N _p = 10⁷ protons of energy in the region E _p > 1.9 MeV that are accelerated from the target surface toward a laser ray, N _p = 4× 10⁷ protons of energy in the region E _p > 1.9 MeV that are accelerated fromthe front surface of the target toward its interior, and N _p = 4×10⁸ protons of energy in the region E _p > 1.9 MeV that are accelerated from the rear foil surface in the outward direction are generated at a laser-radiation intensity of 2 × 10¹⁸ W/cm² at the surface of aluminum, copper, and titanium targets. Experimental investigations aimed at optimizing the process of proton acceleration from the rear surface of aluminum foils were performed by varying the foil thickness over the range between 1 and 100 μm. The results of these experiments showed that there is an optimum foil thickness of 10 μm, in which case protons of maximum energy 5 MeV are generated.     

Laser-triggered quasi-monoenergetic ion beams at a moderate intensity and pulse duration

Plasma produced by short laser pulses from thin homogeneous foils with light and heavy ions is capable of generating quasi-monoenergetic light ions. This happens for the tail of light ions near the front of heavy ions. It was found that this effect is well pronounced for a moderate laser intensity (～10¹⁸ W/cm²) and pulse duration (～1 ps) by using a 2D particle-in-cell simulation of the laser interaction with thin CD₂ foils. Quasi-monoenergetic deuterons form a jet from the rear side of the foil with the energy ～1 MeV. The conversion efficiency to these quasi-monoenergetic ions is 10^?3.     

Radiation-pressure acceleration of ion beams from nanofoil targets: the leaky light-sail regime

A new ion radiation-pressure acceleration regime, the "leaky light sail," is proposed which uses sub-skin-depth nanometer foils irradiated by circularly polarized laser pulses. In the regime, the foil is partially transparent, continuously leaking electrons out along with the transmitted laser field. This feature can be exploited by a multispecies nanofoil configuration to stabilize the acceleration of the light ion component, supplementing the latter with an excess of electrons leaked from those associated with the heavy ions to avoid Coulomb explosion. It is shown by 2D particle-in-cell simulations that a monoenergetic proton beam with energy 18 MeV is produced by circularly polarized lasers at intensities of just 101? W/cm2. 100 MeV proton beams are obtained by increasing the intensities to 2 × 102? W/cm2.     

Laser acceleration of light ions from high-intensity laser-target interactions

A systematic theoretical study of laser-irradiated targets made of material with increasing atomic number has been performed. The formation of energetic light ions resulting from the interaction of an intense ultrashort pulse laser with thin planar targets is investigated theoretically with a two-dimensional relativistic electromagnetic particle-in-cell model. A common parameter, the areal electron density of the foil, can be used to describe qualitatively targets made of different material. By varying either the laser intensity or the target thickness we observe a gradual transition of various ion acceleration mechanisms from one into another. Light ions, such as H⁺, Li³⁺, C⁶⁺, and Al¹³⁺, can be accelerated to GeV energies with existing laser systems at a laser fluence of 10–20 J/μm².     

Ion acceleration from aluminium plasma generated by a femtosecond laser in different conditions

Non-equilibrium plasma was obtained by irradiating Al foils in vacuum with a femtosecond (fs) laser at intensities of the order of 10¹⁸ W/cm². Protons and other light ions were accelerated in the forward direction by using the target-normal-sheath acceleration regime. Time-of-flight technique was employed to measure the ions' kinetic energy using SiC detectors placed at known distances and angles. The ion acceleration was monitored under different conditions of laser focal position, laser pulse energy, and laser contrast. The target was irradiated using different thicknesses and anti-reflecting graphene films. By optimizing the laser parameters, irradiation conditions, and target properties, it was possible to accelerate up to 2.3 MeV per charge state, as will be presented and discussed.     

Source-size measurements and charge distributions of ions accelerated from thin foils irradiated by high-intensity laser pulses

We report on measurements of source sizes and charge state distributions of ions accelerated from thin foils irradiated by ultrashort (100–300 fs) high-intensity (1-6×10¹⁹ W/cm²) laser pulses. The source sizes of proton and carbon ion beams originating from hydrocarbon contaminants on the surfaces of 5 m thick aluminum foils were investigated using the knife-edge method. For low-energy protons and low-carbon charge states, the source area was found to exceed the focal spot area by a factor of 10⁴. For the determination of charge state distributions, sandwich targets consisting of a 25 m thick tungsten layer, a 2-nm thin beryllium layer, and again a tungsten layer whose thickness was varied were used. These targets were resistively heated to remove the light surface contaminants. Peaked energy spectra of oxygen and argon ions corresponding to the equilibrium distribution after propagation through matter were observed. PACS 41.75.Jv; 52.38.Kd; 52.25.Jm; 52.50.Jm; 52.70.Nc; 41.75.Ak     

MeV ion jets from short-pulse-laser interaction with thin foils

Collimated jets of carbon and fluorine ions up to 5 MeV/nucleon ( approximately 100 MeV) are observed from the rear surface of thin foils irradiated with laser intensities of up to 5 x 10 (19)W/cm(2). The normally dominant proton acceleration could be surpressed by removing the hydrocarbon contaminants by resistive heating. This inhibits screening effects and permits effective energy transfer and acceleration of other ion species. The acceleration dynamics and the spatiotemporal distributions of the accelerating E fields at the rear surface of the target are inferred from the detailed spectra.     

Particle-in-cell simulation for experimental ion acceleration by fs laser-generated plasma

ABSTRACT

Particle in cell simulation was applied to fit the measurements of protons and ions acceleration obtained using an fs laser pulse irradiating a thin foil in target-normal-sheath-acceleration regime. The simulation code calculates the maximum electrical field generated in the rear side of the target driving the forward ions acceleration. The electron density versus time and space, and the plasma temperatures are evaluated using a medium contrast laser at an intensity of about 10¹⁹?Wcm^?2. Proton acceleration above 10?MeV was experimentally measured using SiC detectors connected in time-of-flight configuration. A comparison between theoretical aspects and experimental data is reported and discussed.     

Experimental study of the acceleration of protons emitted from thin foils irradiated by ultrahigh-contrast laser pulses

Experimental results are presented for proton acceleration from the back of a target irradiated by laser pulses with intensities up to 2 × 10¹⁹ W/cm² generated by the SOKOL-P facility. The proton acceleration efficiency increases with decreasing of the target thickness. However, thin targets are destroyed by the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) prepulse before the main pulse arrival. An additional optical switch based on a Pockels cell has been used in the amplification section to carry out the experiments with ultrathin foils. As a result, the energy contrast with respect to the ASE prepulse has been increased up to 4 × 10⁶. Owing to high contrast, the experiments on studying proton acceleration from foils with thicknesses less than 100 nm have been carried out.     

Influence of light-ion irradiation on the heavy-ion track etching of polycarbonate

We report on the effect of light-ion irradiation on the size distribution of etched tracks produced by medium energy heavy-ions in polycarbonate. Makrofol KG polycarbonate foils were treated with 2 MeV H⁺ ions at different fluences φ either before or after a short irradiation with 18 MeV Au⁷⁺. The heavy ion irradiation was used to produce the latent tracks in the foils and the proton beam acted as a perturbation to the matrix. The proton irradiation causes initially a decrease in the mean etched pore size, as compared to samples only bombarded by Au ions, reaching a minimum at H⁺ fluences around 2–5×10¹³ cm⁻², while at higher φ the pore size starts to grow again. This effect is attributed to the action of two competitive processes that dominate in different fluence regimes. The decrease in the pore radii at low fluences is attributed to an increase in crystallinity induced by the proton beam. As the total dose builds up, this effect is surpassed by chain scission and amorphization that grow at a lower rate and cause the pore radii to increase again.     

Interaction of H_2~+ molecular beam with thin layer graphene foils

The interaction of MeV H_2~+ molecular ions with thin layer graphene and graphite foils was studied by using a highresolution electrostatic analyzer.A large number of fragment protons were observed at zero degree(along the beam direction) when the H_2~+ beam was passing through the monolayer graphene foil, which indicates that the electron of the H_2~+ molecular ions can be stripped easily even by the monolayer graphene foil.More trailing than leading protons were found in the energy spectrum, which means significant wake effect was observed in the monolayer graphene foil.The ratio of the numbers of trailing protons over leading protons first increased with the thickness for the much thinner graphene foils, and then decreased with the thickness for the much thicker graphite foils, which indicates that the bending effect of the wake field on the trailing proton varied with the foil thickness.