通道靶对超强激光加速质子束的聚焦效应

发散角过大是制约超强激光与固体靶相互作用加速产生高能质子束应用的一个重大物理难题.本文提出了一种结构化的通道靶型,与超强激光相互作用可提高质子束的发散特性,通道壁上产生的横向电荷分离静电场可对质子有效聚焦.采用二维particle-in-cell粒子模拟程序对激光通道靶相互作用过程进行了研究,分析了加速质子束的性能特点.模拟结果表明,与传统平面靶相比,通道靶可以在不过多损失能量的情况下产生具有更好准直性的质子束,尤其当通道靶的直径与激光焦斑尺寸和质子源尺寸相当时,横向静电场能够有效聚焦质子束,并且可保证相对较高的激光能量利用率.     

Comparison of ion acceleration from ultra-short intense laser interactions with thin foil and small dense target

The comparative efficiency and beam characteristics of high-energy ions generated from the interaction of a petawatt laser pulse with thin foil target and a small solid-density plasma bunch target have been studied by particle-in-cell simulation under identical conditions. It is shown that thin foil and small solid dense target of micrometer size can be efficiently accelerated when irradiated by a laser pulse of intensity >10²¹?W/cm². Using direct beam measurements, we find that small solid dense target acceleration produces higher energy particles with smaller divergence and a higher efficiency compared to thin foil target acceleration. The merits of small solid target acceleration can be exploited for potential applications such as its role as ignitor for fast ignition in inertial confinement fusion.     

Ultrabright γ-ray emission from the interaction of an intense laser pulse with a near-critical-density plasma

An efficient scheme for generating ultrabright γ-rays from the interaction of an intense laser pulse with a near-critical-density plasma is studied by using the two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation including quantum electrodynamic effects. We investigate the effects of target shape on γ-ray generation efficiency using three configurations of the solid foils attached behind the near-critical-density plasma: a flat foil without a channel (target 1), a flat foil with a channel (target 2), and a convex foil with a channel (target 3). When an intense laser propagates in a near-critical-density plasma, a large number of electrons are trapped and accelerated to GeV energy, and emit γ-rays via nonlinear betatron oscillation in the first stage. In the second stage, the accelerated electrons collide with the laser pulse reflected from the foil and emit high-energy, high-density γ-rays via nonlinear Compton scattering. The simulation results show that compared with the other two targets, target 3 affords better focusing of the laser field and electrons, which decreases the divergence angle of γ-photons. Consequently, denser and brighter γ-rays are emitted when target 3 is used. Specifically, a dense γ-ray pulse with a peak brightness of 4.6×10²⁶ photons/s/mm²/mrad²/0.1%BW (at 100 MeV) and 1.8×10²³ photons/s/mm²/mrad²/0.1%BW (at 2 GeV) are obtained at a laser intensity of 8.5×10²² W/cm² when the plasma density is equal to the critical plasma density n_c. In addition, for target 3, the effects of plasma channel length, foil curvature radius, laser polarization, and laser intensity on the γ-ray emission are discussed, and optimal values based on a series of simulations are proposed.     

Intense short-pulse lasers irradiating wire and hollow plasma fibers

When an intense laser pulse irradiates a solid-density foil target, electrons produced at the relativistic critical density can be accelerated to relativistic energy by the ponderomotive force. When a plasma fiber is attached to the back of the foil, the produced relativistic electrons are guided to propagate along the fiber for a long distance, because the high-current electron beam induces strong radial electric fields in the fiber. Transport and heating of intense laser-driven relativistic electrons in both wire and hollow plasma fibers are compared theoretically and numerically. We found that the coupling efficiency from the laser to the plasma fiber depends on the fiber structure. Because of the enhanced return currents in the wire fiber, the temperature in the wire fiber is higher than that in the hollow fiber.     

Generating monoenergetic proton beam by using circularly polarlzed laser

The interaction of ultrashort intense circularly polarized laser with ultra thin overdense foil is studied by particle-in-cell simulation and analytic model.It is found that with the balance between pondermotive force and electrostatic force,highly quasi-monoenergetic proton beam can be generated by Phase Stable Acceleration(PSA)process.As in conventional accelerators,ion will be accelerated and bunched up in the longitudinal direction at the same time.     

Generating monoenergetic proton beam by using circularly polarized laser

The interaction of ultrashort intense circularly polarized laser with ultra thin overdense foil is studied by particle-in-cell simulation and analytic model. It is found that with the balance between pondermotive force and electrostatic force, highly quasi-monoenergetic proton beam can be generated by Phase Stable     

Mono-Energetic Proton Beam Acceleration in Laser Foil-Plasma Interactions

Acceleration of ions from ultrathin foils irradiated by intense circularly polarized laser pulses is investigated using a one-dimensional particle-in-cell code. As a circularly polarized laser wave heats the electrons much less efficiently than the wave of linear polarization, the ion can be synchronously accelerated and bunched by the electrostatic field, thus a monoenergetic and high intensity proton beam can be generated.     

Using Target Ablation for Ion Beam Quality Improvement

During the laser foil interaction,the output ion beam quality including the energy spread and beam divergence can be improved by the target ablation,due to the direct laser acceleration(DLA) electrons generated in the ablation plasma.The acceleration field established at the target rear by these electrons,which is highly directional and triangle-envelope,is helpful for the beam quality.With the help of the target ablation,both the beam divergence and energy spread will be reduced.If the ablation is more sufficient,the impact of DLA-electron-caused field will be strengthened,and the beam quality will be better,confirmed by the particle-in-cell simulation.     

强激光与双锥靶作用加速准单能质子束

提出了一种新型的双锥靶结构用于准单能质子束加速。利用二维PIC粒子模拟程序研究了强激光与双锥靶作用加速产生质子束的物理过程以及质子束品质。双锥靶产生的质子束在峰值能量和发散角度等方面都明显优于相同激光条件下单锥靶和平面靶的结果。尤其与平面靶相比,双锥靶质子束的峰值能量提高了5倍以上,而且很好地保持准单能性。一方面双锥靶的内锥部分是临界密度材料,提高了激光的吸收效率;另一方面双锥靶内形成了更强的准静态磁场,可以约束引导更多的超热电子传输过锥尖,进而增强加速质子束的鞘层电场。     

激光等离子体相互作用中的两级质子加速（英文）北大核心CSCD

研究了激光辐射压驱动的两级质子加速的相关问题。当超短超强激光脉冲与处在背景等离子体前方的薄固体平靶相互作用时,在固体靶后部形成一个电子层-离子层组成的双层结构。在激光的不断推进下,双层结构在背景等离子体里以一定速度传播,可以看成运动在背景等离子体中的电场。这样,在背景等离子体中的质子被这个运动电场捕获并能加速到很高的能量。通过二维PIC模拟方法和理论分析研究了质子加速的相关问题。研究结果表明,被加速质子的最大能量达到20GeV。     

Ballistic focusing of polyenergetic protons driven by petawatt laser pulses

By using a thick (250 μm) target with 350 μm radius of curvature, the intense proton beam driven by a petawatt laser is focused at a distance of ～1 mm from the target for all detectable energies up to ～25 MeV. The thickness of the foil facilitates beam focusing as it suppresses the dynamic evolution of the beam divergence caused by peaked electron flux distribution at the target rear side. In addition, reduction in inherent beam divergence due to the target thickness relaxes the curvature requirement for short-range focusing. Energy resolved mapping of the proton beam trajectories from mesh radiographs infers the focusing and the data agree with a simple geometrical modeling based on ballistic beam propagation.     

双光束对高能电子的捕获特性

 为了在实验上增强非线性强场效应的信号强度,基于电子在强激光束上的非弹性散射,提出一种双光束捕获电子的方案,目的是通过延长电子和强场相互作用时间来提高非线性过程发生总概率,实现观测信号的增强。数值模拟结果表明,捕获后的电子和强激光场的相互作用时间可延长10倍以上。     

用于激光驱动质子束测量的腔式束流位置探测器模拟研究

根据激光驱动质子束流低发射度、短脉冲、单束团低电量的性质,研究腔式束流位置探测器(BPM)测量激光加速器产生的质子束团横向位置的可行性问题。针对质子束团的大横向分布和发散角问题,推导了其通过腔式BPM的输出信号,结果表明该信号与集中从束团对称中心、倾斜一定角度通过的束流产生的输出信号相同。依据上述原理,使用CST软件进行了腔式BPM的设计和仿真,确定了矩形谐振腔波导耦合的方案。讨论了该方案的腔式BPM对于激光加速束流的适用性和不同激光驱动质子束流参数的分辨率,并针对PW级激光加速系统进行了分辨率估算。     

强激光与柱腔靶作用下准直高能电子束的产生

利用二维PIC粒子模拟程序研究了超短超强激光脉冲与柱腔靶相互作用产生的表面超热电子加速现象。采用光强为1021 W/cm2量级的超高斯激光脉冲掠入射进入柱腔靶,在靶的内壁上观察到了GeV量级的表面超热电子。超热电子束被准静态的电场和磁场约束在内壁表面附近,保证了电子束的准直性,发散角仅为1.6°;并且由于超热电子束在纵向激光电场中加速了mm级的距离,激光到高能电子(100 MeV)的转换效率达到了26.6%。另外,通过多参数模拟和理论解析讨论了激光的光强以及横向空间分布对这种表面超热电子加速的影响。     

高能质子束流强度绝对测量的二次电子补偿原理研究

高能质子入射到金属接收体表面诱发的二次电子直接影响束流强度的测量精度,如何消除二次电子影响是实现束流高精度测量的关键.根据高能带电粒子在金属表面诱发二次电子发射理论,对高能质子束流强度测量的二次电子补偿原理进行了研究,设计了二次电子补偿结构.采用三块金属极板构成的实验装置在高能质子源上开展实验研究,实验测得在中间极板上输出的电流与入射质子束流强度的比值小于0.7%,中间极板上二次电子得到补偿,验证了二次电子补偿原理的正确性.研究表明,采用设计的二次电子补偿结构对高能质子束流强度进行测量时二次电子贡献小于1%.     

Proton Beam Generated by Multi-Lasers Interaction with Rear-Holed Target

Multi-lasers are proposed to enhance the proton acceleration in laser plasma interaction. A rear-holed target is illuminated by three lasers from different directions. The scheme is demonstrated by two-dimensional particlein-cell simulations. The electron cloud shape is controlled well and the electron density is improved significantly. The electrons accelerated by the three lasers induce an enhanced target normal sheath acceleration(TNSA) which suppresses the proton beam divergence and improves the maximum proton energy. The maximum proton energy is 22.9 Me V, which increased significantly than that of a single-laser target interaction. Meanwhile, the average divergence angle(22.3?) is reduced. The dependence of the proton beam on the length of sidewall is investigated in detail and the optimal length is obtained.     

Generating Proton Beams Exceeding 10 MeV Using High Contrast 60TW Laser

A prototype of a laser driven proton accelerator is built at Peking University. Protons exceeding 10 MeV are accelerated from micrometer-thick aluminum targets irradiated by tightly focused laser pulse with 1.8 J energy and 30 fs duration. The beam energy spectrum and charge distribution are measured by a Thomson parabola spectrometer and radiochromic film stacks. The sensitivity of proton cut-off energy to the focusing of the laser beam, the pulse duration, and the foil thickness are systematically investigated in the experiments. Stable proton beams have been produced with an optimized parameter set, providing a cornerstone for the future applications of laser accelerated protons.     

Observation of synchrotron radiation from electrons accelerated in a petawatt-laser-generated plasma cavity

The dynamics of plasma electrons in the focus of a petawatt laser beam are studied via measurements of their x-ray synchrotron radiation. With increasing laser intensity, a forward directed beam of x rays extending to 50 keV is observed. The measured x rays are well described in the synchrotron asymptotic limit of electrons oscillating in a plasma channel. The critical energy of the measured synchrotron spectrum is found to scale as the Maxwellian temperature of the simultaneously measured electron spectra. At low laser intensity transverse oscillations are negligible as the electrons are predominantly accelerated axially by the laser generated wakefield. At high laser intensity, electrons are directly accelerated by the laser and enter a highly radiative regime with up to 5% of their energy converted into x rays.     

Studies of advanced soft X-ray laser and coherent higher harmonic generation using intense subpicosecond laser produced high density plasma

Current activities on our research of soft X-ray lasers and higher harmonic generations using intense, subpicosecond lasers are reviewed. Especially for soft X-ray lasers we experimentally demonstrate that by longitudinally pumping 2-mm-long molybdenum preformed plasma with high-intensity 475 fs duration laser pulse, a highly directive soft-X-ray laser at 18.9 nm wavelength is generated. The divergence of the beam is evaluated to be of the submilliradian order, and only requires pump laser energy of 150 mJ. Simulations show that the pedestal in the main pump pulse can generate electron density and gain profiles with large spatial gradients, which result in the selective amplification of low-order transverse modes. The present result is the demonstration of an efficient and alternative method of improving the spatial coherence of X-ray lasers with amplified spontaneous emission medium, with possibilities of becoming an excellent tool to explore various application experiments. In higher harmonic generation, topics related to observation of blue shift due to collisionless absorption process is described.     

Spin correlations in nonperturbative electron–positron pair creation by petawatt laser pulses colliding with a TeV proton beam

The influence of the electron spin degree of freedom on nonperturbative electron–positron pair production by high-energy proton impact on an intense laser field of circular polarization is analyzed. Predictions from the Dirac and Klein–Gordon theories are compared and a spin-resolved calculation is performed. We show that the various spin configurations possess very different production probabilities and discuss the transfer of helicity in this highly nonlinear process. Our predictions could be tested by combining the few-TeV proton beam at CERN-LHC with an intense laser pulse from a table-top petawatt laser source.