Ion-driven fast ignition (IFI) may have significant advantages over electron-driven FI due to the potentially large reduction in the amount of energy required for the ignition beam and the laser driver. Recent experiments at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Trident facility employing novel Au flat-top cone targets have produced a fourfold increase in laser-energy to ion-energy efficiency, a 13-fold increase in the number of ions above 10MeV, and a few times increase in the maximum ion energy compared to Au flat-foil targets. Compared to recently published scaling laws, these gains are even greater. If the efficiency scales with intensity in accordance to flat-foil scaling, then, with little modification, these targets can be used to generate the pulse of ions needed to ignite thermonuclear fusion in the fast ignitor scheme. A proton energy of at least 30MeV was measured from the flat-top cone targets, and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations show that the maximum cutoff energy may be as high as 40–45MeV at modest intensity of 1×1019W∕cm2 with 20J in 600fs. Simulations indicate that the observed energy and efficiency increase can be attributed to the cone target’s ability to guide laser light into the neck to produce hot electrons and transport these electrons to the flat-top of the cone where they can be heated to much higher temperatures, creating a hotter, denser sheath. The PIC simulations also elucidate the critical parameters for obtaining superior proton acceleration such as the dependence on laser contrast/plasma prefill, as well as longitudinal and transverse laser pointing, and cone geometry. These novel cones have the potential to revolutionize inertial confinement fusion target design and fabrication via their ability to be mass produced. In addition, they could have an impact on the general physics community studying basic electron and radiation transport phenomena or as better sources of particle beams to study equations of state and warm dense matter, or for hadron therapy, as new radioisotope generators, or for compact proton radiography sources.
We study ultrafast heating of thin plastic foils by intense laser irradiation theoretically using collisional two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We find that the laser-generated hot electrons are confined laterally by self-generated resistive magnetic fields, heating the laser focal area beyond keV electron temperatures isochorically in a few picoseconds. Using this confinement one can excite shock waves that compress the plasma beyond solid density and achieve keV thermal plasmas before the plasma disassembles. Such shocks can be launched at material interfaces inside the target where jumps in the average ionization state and thus electron density lead to gigabar pressure. They propagate stably over picoseconds accompanied by multi-megagauss magnetic fields, and thus have a potential for various applications in high energy density physics.
Abstract.A design of a compact free-electron laser (FEL), generating ultra-fast, high-peak flux, XUV pulses is presented. The FEL is driven by a high-current, 0.5 GeV electron beam from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) laser-plasma accelerator, whose active acceleration length is only a few centimeters. The proposed ultra-fast source (∼10 fs) would be intrinsically temporally synchronized to the drive laser pulse, enabling pump-probe studies in ultra-fast science.Owing to the high current ( 10 kA) of the laser-plasma-accelerated electron beams, saturated output fluxes are potentially greater than 10 13 photons/pulse. Devices based both on self-amplified spontaneous emission and high-harmonic generated input seeds, to reduce undulator length and fluctuations, are considered.
In recent experiments the transverse normalized rms emittance of laser-accelerated MeV ion beams was found to be < 0.002 mm mrad, which is at least 100 times smaller than the emittance of thermal ion sources used in accelerators [T. E. Cowan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 204801 (2004)]. We investigate the origin for the low emittance of laser-accelerated proton beams by studying several candidates for emittance-growth mechanisms. As our main tools, we use analytical models and one- and two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that have been modified to include binary collisions between particles. We find that the dominant source of emittance is filamentation of the laser-generated hot electron jets that drive the ion acceleration. Cold electron-ion collisions that occur before ions are accelerated contribute less than ten percent of the final emittance. Our results are in qualitative agreement with the experiment, for which we present a refined analysis relating emittance to temperature, a better representative of the fundamental beam physics.
We present the design and calibration of a microchannel plate based extreme ultraviolet spectrometer. Calibration was performed at the Advance Light Source (ALS) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). This spectrometer will be used to record the single shot spectrum of radiation emitted by the tapered hybrid undulator (THUNDER) undulator installed at the LOASIS GeV-class laser-plasma-accelerator. The spectrometer uses an aberration-corrected concave grating with 1200 lines/mm covering 11-62 nm and a microchannel plate detector with a CsI coated photocathode for increased quantum efficiency in the extreme ultraviolet. A touch screen interface controls the grating angle, aperture size, and placement of the detector in vacuum, allowing for high-resolution measurements over the entire spectral range.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.