Accurate spectra for high energy ions by advanced time-of-flight diamond-detector schemes in experiments with high energy and intensity lasers

Time-of-flight spectroscopy for laser-driven proton beam monitoring

Application experiments with laser plasma-based accelerators (LPA) for protons have to cope with the inherent fluctuations of the proton source. This creates a demand for non-destructive and online spectral characterization of the proton pulses, which are for application experiments mostly spectrally filtered and transported by a beamline. Here, we present a scintillator-based time-of-flight (ToF) beam monitoring system (BMS) for the recording of single-pulse proton energy spectra. The setup's capabilities are showcased by characterizing the spectral stability for the transport of LPA protons for two beamline application cases. For the two beamline settings monitored, data of 122 and 144 proton pulses collected over multiple days were evaluated, respectively. A relative energy uncertainty of 5.5% (1[Formula: see text]) is reached for the ToF BMS, allowing for a Monte-Carlo based prediction of depth dose distributions, also used for the calibration of the device. Finally, online spectral monitoring combined with the prediction of the corresponding depth dose distribution in the irradiated samples is demonstrated to enhance applicability of plasma sources in dose-critical scenarios.

Combined laser-based X-ray fluorescence and particle-induced X-ray emission for versatile multi-element analysis

Particle and radiation sources are widely employed in manifold applications. In the last decades, the upcoming of versatile, energetic, high-brilliance laser-based sources, as produced by intense laser–matter interactions, has introduced utilization of these sources in diverse areas, given their potential to complement or even outperform existing techniques. In this paper, we show that the interaction of an intense laser with a solid target produces a versatile, non-destructive, fast analysis technique that allows to switch from laser-driven PIXE (Particle-Induced X-ray Emission) to laser-driven XRF (X-ray Fluorescence) within single laser shots, by simply changing the atomic number of the interaction target. The combination of both processes improves the retrieval of constituents in materials and allows for volumetric analysis up to tens of microns and on cm² large areas up to a detection threshold of ppms. This opens the route for a versatile, non-destructive, and fast combined analysis technique.