Application of proton radiography in experiments of relevance to inertial confinement fusion

Multi-Mev proton beams generated by target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) during the interaction of an ultra intense laser beam (I≥10¹⁹ W/cm²) with a thin metallic foil (thickness of the order of a few tens of microns) are particularly suited as a particle probe for laser plasma experiments. The proton imaging technique employs a laser-driven proton beam in a point-projection imaging scheme as a diagnostic tool for the detection of electric fields in such experiments. The proton probing technique has been applied in experiments of relevance to inertial confinement fusion (ICF) such as laser heated gasbags and laser-hohlraum experiments. The data provides direct information on the onset of laser beam filamentation and on the plasma expansion in the hohlraum’s interior, and confirms the suitability and usefulness of this technique as an ICF diagnostic.     

二次电子发射对质子束流测量精度的影响

二次电子发射直接影响法拉第探测器测量质子束流的精度,减小或消除二次电子发射的影响是提高束流测量精度的关键。根据二次电子补偿原理设计了二次电子补偿型同轴法拉第探测器,实验发现探测器测量质子束流强度时不能完全实现二次电子补偿。为改进和完善探测器的设计,从理论上分析了补偿片未能完全消除二次电子对束流测量影响的原因,是由于补偿片前向发射二次电子数目大于收集极后向发射二次电子数目所致。为此设计了质子束穿过金属箔发射二次电子测量装置,测量得到能量为5~10MeV质子穿过10μm厚铜箔时前向与后向发射二次电子产额,验证了理论分析的正确性。     

Pseudospark produced pulsed electron beam for material processing

An intense pulsed electron beam produced by a pseudospark discharge is used for material processing. The electron beam propagates in a self-focused manner in the background gas. Hardly 12 ns after the beginning of the discharge the fraction of space charge neutralization is about 96%. To sustain the neutralization effect high energy electrons (E <500 keV) are accelerated in radial direction at the beam head, due to strong electric field gradients. At current maximum the beam pinches due to its own magnetic field. At peak current of 400 A and charging voltage up to 16 kV power density reaches 10⁹ W/cm ² on the target surface. Some results of copper thin films are presented. Due to the high expansion velocity of 10⁴ m/s of the ablated target material a copper-matrix has been masked     

Focusing of an intense neutralized proton beam

An intense low-energy (15–20 keV) proton beam is focused in two stages: ballistic focusing is followed by magnetic compression. The beam is formed by an MAIS wide-aperture source, in which a plasma is generated by many discharge elements via a discharge over the polyethylene surface. In the presence of an external magnetic field, the beam turns out to be overneutralized by electrons coming from the cathode grids of the source and from the target. The maximal focusing efficiency (>70%) is observed within 10 μs after the pulse has been applied if the target is negatively biased. The degree of beam compression in terms of cross-sectional area is 1.6×10³. The numerical simulation of the focusing agrees well with the results of measurement.     

采用超薄双层靶提高质子束的单能性

利用1维粒子模拟程序,研究了超短超强激光脉冲与超薄双层靶(基底层和加速层厚度均为nm量级)相互作用产生准单能质子束的过程。研究表明,基底层厚度及加速层厚度对质子能谱的影响至关重要。减小基底层厚度,靶后静电场增强,质子的最大能量显著增大;减小加速层厚度,靶后静电场分布变得更加均匀,质子能谱中心能量变化不大,单能性变好。通过优化参数,获得了能散度为7%的准单能质子束。     

Proposed double-layer target for the generation of high-quality laser-accelerated ion beams

In order to achieve a high-quality, i.e., monoenergetic, intense ion beam, we propose the use of a double-layer target. The first layer, at the target front, consists of high-Z atoms, while the second (rear) layer is a thin coating of low-Z atoms. The generation of high-quality proton beams from the double-layer target, irradiated by an ultraintense laser pulse, is demonstrated with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.     

Production of low-emittance MeV protons by localized electrons

Energetic proton beam generation and the suppression of transverse proton beam divergence are investigated in this paper. In laser-foil interactions, foil ions are accelerated by an ambipolar field created by accelerated high-energy electrons. The high-energy electrons are generated by the ponderomotive force of an intense laser. When an intense laser illuminates a hydrogen foil target, the electrons are strongly accelerated longitudinally, and a localized negative electrostatic potential is generated at the opposite side of the laser illumination. Foil protons are accelerated longitudinally and at the same time extracted to the central axis of the laser by the localized potential in the transverse direction. Consequently, transverse proton divergence is suppressed and a low-emittance MeV proton beam is produced.     

Dynamic control of laser-produced proton beams

The emission characteristics of intense laser driven protons are controlled using ultrastrong (of the order of 10(9) V/m) electrostatic fields varying on a few ps time scale. The field structures are achieved by exploiting the high potential of the target (reaching multi-MV during the laser interaction). Suitably shaped targets result in a reduction in the proton beam divergence, and hence an increase in proton flux while preserving the high beam quality. The peak focusing power and its temporal variation are shown to depend on the target characteristics, allowing for the collimation of the inherently highly divergent beam and the design of achromatic electrostatic lenses.     

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.     

Ultralow emittance, multi-MeV proton beams from a laser virtual-cathode plasma accelerator

The laminarity of high-current multi-MeV proton beams produced by irradiating thin metallic foils with ultraintense lasers has been measured. For proton energies >10 MeV, the transverse and longitudinal emittance are, respectively, <0.004 mm mrad and <10(-4) eV s, i.e., at least 100-fold and may be as much as 10(4)-fold better than conventional accelerator beams. The fast acceleration being electrostatic from an initially cold surface, only collisions with the accelerating fast electrons appear to limit the beam laminarity. The ion beam source size is measured to be <15 microm (FWHM) for proton energies >10 MeV.     

Simulation on buildup of electron cloud in a proton circular accelerator

Electron cloud interaction with high energy positive beams are believed responsible for various undesirable effects such as vacuum degradation, collective beam instability and even beam loss in high power proton circular accelerators. An important uncertainty in predicting electron cloud instability lies in the detailed processes of the generation and accumulation of the electron cloud. The simulation on the build-up of electron cloud is necessary to further studies on beam instability caused by electron clouds. The China Spallation Neutron Source(CSNS) is an intense proton accelerator facility now being built, whose accelerator complex includes two main parts: an H-linac and a rapid cycling synchrotron(RCS). The RCS accumulates the 80 Me V proton beam and accelerates it to 1.6 Ge V with a repetition rate of 25 Hz. During beam injection with lower energy, the emerging electron cloud may cause serious instability and beam loss on the vacuum pipe. A simulation code has been developed to simulate the build-up,distribution and density of electron cloud in CSNS/RCS.     

Some features of phase transformations induced by selective removal of oxygen atoms from metal oxides under proton irradiation

It has been shown that oxygen atoms are selectively removed from metal oxides under ～ 1 keV proton irradiation. The reduced metallic layer thickness reaches several tens of nanometers. The reduction of metal from oxide is accompanied by significant volume changes, the value of which has been experimentally determined and compared to theoretical estimates. It has been found that the metal reduction process can be carried out through an additional upper (relative to the proton beam) layer. It has been shown that the metal reduction rate does not change in the case of a thin (～5 nm) upper layer; however, the coercive force of ferromagnetic metals increases strongly.     

利用强流ISOL束研究20Na的奇异衰变模式(英文)

北京放射性离子束装置（Beijing Radioactive Ion-beam Facility,BRIF）是基于在线同位素分离器技术的国家大科学平台。在BRIF装置上利用100 MeV的质子束轰击较厚的反应靶产生放射性核素;反应产物经离子源电离和在线分离,在线同位素分离段可引出100~300 keV的放射性核束,质量分辨率达20 000。在基金委科学仪器基础研究专项的支持下,建成了多用途的衰变实验终端,包括束流传输管道、通用靶室、带电粒子和γ探测器、集成电子学和数据获取系统等。利用100 MeV的质子束轰击MgO厚靶产生了流强高达1×105 pps的20Na放射性核束。通过高效率地同时测量β,γ和α,第一次直接观测到20Na非常稀有的β-γ-α衰变模式。Beijing Radioactive Ion-beam Facility(BRIF) has been commissioned as the national Radioactive Ion Beam(RIB) facility based on the Isotope Separator On Line(ISOL) technique since 2016. At BRIF, the radioactive nuclides are produced by the proton beam of 100 MeV bombarding a thick-target, the reaction products diffusing out of the target are ionized by an ion source and delivered to the online mass separator. In addition to the post-accelerated radioactive ion beams, BRIF can provide low-energy ISOL beams of 100 to 300 keV with a mass resolution of 20 000. A general-purpose decay station has been built including the ISOL beam transport line, a conventional reaction chamber, charge-particle and γ detectors with integrated electronics and data acquisition system. An intense 20Na ISOL beam up to 1×105 pps was produced by using the 100 MeV proton beam bombarding a MgO thick target. With high-efficiency measurements of β, γ and α simultaneously, very rare β-γ-α decay mode in 20Na has been directly observed for the first time in the present work.     

Coherent transition radiation from thin targets irradiated by high intensity laser pulses

A theoretical examination on coherent transition radiations (CTR) from the surface of thin solid density target irradiated by high intensity laser is presented. The theory is extended to consider the expansion dynamics of thin foils. The motion of target surfaces leads to the modulation on the temporal structure of micro bunches in the electron beam as well as the spectrum of CTR. The spectral shifts of radiation are owing to the enhancement of electron bunch separation and the relativistic Doppler effects. The radiation power distribution is strongly affected by the temporal coherence of electron beam structure, so thus the electron temperature and velocity dispersions. With these effects accounted for, the spectral properties of coherent transition radiation can provide insights into the expansion of thin foil targets irradiated by intense laser pulse as well as the fast electron transport through it.     

Rotation of a 1-GeV particle beam by a fan system of thin crystals

The deflection of a 1-GeV charged particle beam by a system formed by fan-oriented thin silicon wafers has been studied theoretically and experimentally. Software has been developed for numerical simulation of a particle beam transmission through a fan crystal system. In the U-70 experiment on a proton beam, the particles were deflected by such a system through an angle exceeding 1 mrad. Thus, a new method has been demonstrated for rotating a particle beam, which can be used for creating accelerator beams for medical purposes.     

散裂靶中质子束窗的散射效应

 质子束窗是在高功率靶区中的一个分界窗,它将质子输运线上高真空区域和氦容器中的氦环境分开。在其他散裂中子源中质子束窗的热效应以及机械问题都已经被研究过了,但质子束在该窗中散射效应的研究却很少被报导,然而在靶设计中如果没有处理好质子束窗的散射效应会有很大的问题。报导了质子束窗散射效应的模拟计算结果,包括不同质子束窗的材料和结构选择,并以中国散裂中子源（CSNS）为例,介绍了在CSNS一期和二期中质子束窗采用周边水冷的铝合金单层结构,CSNS三期采用中间水冷的铝合金夹层结构。文中给出了不同结构的质子束窗和不同的与靶距离散射效应对靶上经非线性磁铁均匀化的束流分布的影响的模拟计算结果。模拟结果显示质子窗的散射效应对束流损失和靶上的束流分布有重要的影响。     

Suppression of multiple ionization of atomic ions in intense ultrafast laser pulses

The interaction of an intense laser field with a beam of atomic ions has been investigated experimentally for the first time. The ionization dynamics of Ar+ ions and Ar neutrals in a 60 fs, 790 nm laser pulse have been compared and contrasted at intensities up to 10(16) W cm-2. Our results show that nonsequential ionization from an Ar+ target is strongly suppressed compared with that from the corresponding neutral target. We have also observed for the first time the strong field ionization of high lying target metastable levels in the Ar+ beam.     

Detecting neutrons by forward recoil protons at the Energy &amp; Transmutation facility: Detector development and calibration with 14.1-MeV neutrons

As part of the Energy & Transmutation project, we are developing a detector for neutrons with energies in the 10–100 MeV range emitted from the target irradiated by a charged-particle beam. The neutron is detected by measuring the time-of-flight and total kinetic energy of the forward-going recoil proton [1] knocked out at a small angle from a thin layer of plastic scintillator, which has to be selected against an intense background created by γ quanta, scattered neutrons, and charged particles. On the other hand, neutron energy has to be measured over the full range with no extra tuning of the detector operation regime. Initial measurements with a source of 14.1-MeV neutrons are reported.