Laser-PIXE using laser-accelerated proton beams

Barberio, M.; Antici, P.

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-42997-y

Cited by 24 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Especially in recent years, materials and nuclear science have emerged as a promising domain of application of laser-driven ion sources. Proof-of-principle experiments [14] and numerical works [15][16][17] support the…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Enhanced laser-driven hadron sources with nanostructured double-layer targets

et al. 2020

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Laser-driven ion sources are approaching the requirements for several applications in materials and nuclear science. Relying on compact, table-top, femtosecond laser systems is pivotal to enable most of these applications. However, the moderate intensity of these systems (I10 19 W cm −2 ) could lead to insufficient energy and total charge of the accelerated ions. The use of solid foils coated with a nanostructured near-critical layer is emerging as a promising targeted solution to enhance the energy and the total charge of the accelerated ions. For an appropriate theoretical understanding of this acceleration scheme, a realistic description of the nanostructure is essential, also to precisely assess its role in the physical processes at play. Here, by means of 3D particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate ion acceleration in this scenario, assessing the role of different realistic nanostructure morphologies, such as fractal-like foams and nanowire forests. With respect to a simple flat foil, the presence of a nanostructure allows for up to a×3 increase of the maximum ion energy and for a significant increase of the conversion efficiency of laser energy into ion kinetic energy. Simulations show also that the details of the nanostructure morphology affect both the maximum energy of the ions and their angular distribution. Furthermore, combined 3D particle-in-cell and Monte Carlo simulations show that if accelerated ions are used for neutron generation with a beryllium converter, double-layer nanostructured targets allow to greatly enhance the neutron yield. These results suggest that nanostructured double-layer targets could be an essential component to enable applications of hadron sources driven by compact, table-top lasers. feasibility of laser-driven ion beam analysis for non-destructive materials characterization. Laser-driven ion sources have been considered to test electronic components in a harsh radiation environment [18], for thermal stress testing [19], to study ultra-fast dynamics in irradiated materials [20,21], and for materials synthesis [22,23]. Ultrashort pulsed neutron sources driven by laser-accelerated ions [24-32] have been investigated for applications such as fast neutron spectroscopy [33] and radiography [34].What make these applications particularly attractive are the requirements for the ion source. Energies of few MeVs are perfectly suitable for several ion beam analysis techniques [35] or to generate neutrons with a lithium [36] or beryllium [37] converter. Moreover, for selected applications, the inherently broad energy spectrum of a laser-driven ion source [2] is not detrimental [15,17] and could even be beneficial [18]. Maximum ion energies of ∼1 MeV have been recently demonstrated even with commercial, sub-terawatt laser systems [38]. These lasersystems are truly table-top and can operate at a high repetition rate (kiloHertz). Relying on these systems could make laser-driven ion sources portable and competitive with conventional accelerators, paving the way for their widesprea...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Enhanced laser-driven hadron sources with nanostructured double-layer targets

et al. 2020

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“…Laser-driven proton acceleration, as obtained by the interaction of a high-intensity laser with a target, is a growing field of interest, in particular, for the different potential applications that are consolidating or emerging. These applications include their use in ultrafast radiography [1], novel fusion schemes [2], high-energy density matter [3], laboratory astrophysics [4], medical applications [5][6][7], novel neutron sources [8], cultural heritage [9,10], using them as injectors for larger accelerators [11,12], and material science [13][14][15][16]. Many of these applications build on the routine production of protons, where one of the main challenges is to optimize the proton energy and yield given specific laser parameters.…”

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confidence: 99%

Enhanced laser-driven proton acceleration using ultrasmall nanoparticles

Vallières

Barberio

Scisciò

et al. 2019

Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams

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An efficient way to enhance laser-driven proton acceleration is by increasing the laser-to-target energy transfer, which can be obtained using nanostructured target surfaces. In this paper, we show that inexpensive and easily producible solid target nanostructuration using ultrasmall nanoparticles having 10 nm in diameter exhibits a nearly twofold maximum proton energy and proton number enhancement. Results are confirmed by particle-in-cell simulations, for several laser pulse lengths. A parameter scan analyzing the effect of the nanoparticle diameter and space gap between the nanospheres shows that the gap has a stronger influence on the enhancement mechanism than the sphere diameter.

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“…Electrons and protons are accelerated together in an ultrafast dynamics, and their energy spectra are broad. Because of their peculiar features, compact [e.g., a few meters size ( 16 – 19 )] laser-driven accelerators could be exploited for EDX ( 20 ) and PIXE ( 21 – 23 ). A proof-of-principle elemental PIXE analysis of a homogeneous sample (i.e., the identification of the elements present in the sample) exploiting a laser-driven particle source was demonstrated by Barberio et al ( 22 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated quantitative PIXE analysis and EDX spectroscopy using a laser-driven particle source

et al. 2021

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Among the existing elemental characterization techniques, particle-induced x-ray emission (PIXE) and energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectroscopy are two of the most widely used in different scientific and technological fields. Here, we present the first quantitative laser-driven PIXE and laser-driven EDX experimental investigation performed at the Centro de Láseres Pulsados in Salamanca. Thanks to their potential for compactness and portability, laser-driven particle sources are very appealing for materials science applications, especially for materials analysis techniques. We demonstrate the possibility to exploit the x-ray signal produced by the co-irradiation with both electrons and protons to identify the elements in the sample. We show that, using the proton beam only, we can successfully obtain quantitative information about the sample structure through laser-driven PIXE analysis. These results pave the way toward the development of a compact and multifunctional apparatus for the elemental analysis of materials based on a laser-driven particle source.

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Laser-PIXE using laser-accelerated proton beams

Cited by 24 publications

References 29 publications

Enhanced laser-driven hadron sources with nanostructured double-layer targets

Enhanced laser-driven hadron sources with nanostructured double-layer targets

Enhanced laser-driven proton acceleration using ultrasmall nanoparticles

Integrated quantitative PIXE analysis and EDX spectroscopy using a laser-driven particle source

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