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Tazes I, Passalidis S, Kaselouris E, Mancelli D, Karvounis C, Skoulakis A, Fitilis I, Bakarezos M, Papadogiannis NA, Dimitriou V, Tatarakis M. Efficient Magnetic Vortex Acceleration by femtosecond laser interaction with long living optically shaped gas targets in the near critical density plasma regime. Sci Rep 2024; 14:4945. [PMID: 38418538 PMCID: PMC10901874 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-54475-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 03/01/2024] Open
Abstract
We introduce a novel, gaseous target optical shaping laser set-up, capable to generate short scale length, near-critical target profiles via generated colliding blast waves. These profiles are capable to maintain their compressed density for several nanoseconds, being therefore ideal for laser-plasma particle acceleration experiments in the near critical density plasma regime. Our proposed method overcomes the laser-target synchronization limitations and delivers energetic protons, during the temporal evolution of the optically shaped profile, in a time window of approximately 2.5 ns. The optical shaping of the gas-jet profiles is optimised by MagnetoHydroDynamic simulations. 3D Particle-In-Cell models, adopting the spatiotemporal profile, simulate the 45 TW femtosecond laser plasma interaction to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed proton acceleration set-up. The optical shaping of gas-jets is performed by multiple, nanosecond laser pulse generated blastwaves. This process results in steep gradient, short scale length plasma profiles, in the near critical density regime allowing operation at high repetition rates. Notably, the Magnetic Vortex Acceleration mechanism exhibits high efficiency in coupling the laser energy into the plasma in the optically shaped targets, resulting to collimated proton beams of energies up to 14 MeV.
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Affiliation(s)
- I Tazes
- Institute of Plasma Physics and Lasers-IPPL, University Research and Innovation Centre, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece
- Department of Electronic Engineering, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 73133, Chania, Greece
| | - S Passalidis
- CEA, DAM, DIF, 91297, Arpajon, France
- Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, LMCE, 91680, Bruyères-le-Châtel, France
| | - E Kaselouris
- Institute of Plasma Physics and Lasers-IPPL, University Research and Innovation Centre, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece
- Physical Acoustics and Optoacoustics Laboratory, Department of Music Technology and Acoustics, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece
| | - D Mancelli
- Institute of Plasma Physics and Lasers-IPPL, University Research and Innovation Centre, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece
- Department of Electronic Engineering, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 73133, Chania, Greece
| | - C Karvounis
- Institute of Plasma Physics and Lasers-IPPL, University Research and Innovation Centre, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece
- Department of Electronic Engineering, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 73133, Chania, Greece
| | - A Skoulakis
- Institute of Plasma Physics and Lasers-IPPL, University Research and Innovation Centre, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece
- Department of Electronic Engineering, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 73133, Chania, Greece
| | - I Fitilis
- Institute of Plasma Physics and Lasers-IPPL, University Research and Innovation Centre, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece
- Department of Electronic Engineering, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 73133, Chania, Greece
| | - M Bakarezos
- Institute of Plasma Physics and Lasers-IPPL, University Research and Innovation Centre, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece
- Physical Acoustics and Optoacoustics Laboratory, Department of Music Technology and Acoustics, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece
| | - N A Papadogiannis
- Institute of Plasma Physics and Lasers-IPPL, University Research and Innovation Centre, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece
- Physical Acoustics and Optoacoustics Laboratory, Department of Music Technology and Acoustics, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece
| | - V Dimitriou
- Institute of Plasma Physics and Lasers-IPPL, University Research and Innovation Centre, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece.
- Physical Acoustics and Optoacoustics Laboratory, Department of Music Technology and Acoustics, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece.
| | - M Tatarakis
- Institute of Plasma Physics and Lasers-IPPL, University Research and Innovation Centre, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 74100, Rethymno, Greece.
- Department of Electronic Engineering, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 73133, Chania, Greece.
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Schollmeier MS, Bekx JJ, Hartmann J, Schork E, Speicher M, Brodersen AF, Fazzini A, Fischer P, Gaul E, Gonzalez-Izquierdo B, Günther MM, Härle AK, Hollinger R, Kenney K, Park J, Rivas DE, Scutelnic V, Shpilman Z, Wang S, Rocca JJ, Korn G. Differentiating multi-MeV, multi-ion spectra with CR-39 solid-state nuclear track detectors. Sci Rep 2023; 13:18155. [PMID: 37875514 PMCID: PMC10598230 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-45208-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/17/2023] [Indexed: 10/26/2023] Open
Abstract
The development of high intensity petawatt lasers has created new possibilities for ion acceleration and nuclear fusion using solid targets. In such laser-matter interaction, multiple ion species are accelerated with broad spectra up to hundreds of MeV. To measure ion yields and for species identification, CR-39 solid-state nuclear track detectors are frequently used. However, these detectors are limited in their applicability for multi-ion spectra differentiation as standard image recognition algorithms can lead to a misinterpretation of data, there is no unique relation between track diameter and particle energy, and there are overlapping pit diameter relationships for multiple particle species. In this report, we address these issues by first developing an algorithm to overcome user bias during image processing. Second, we use calibration of the detector response for protons, carbon and helium ions (alpha particles) from 0.1 to above 10 MeV and measurements of statistical energy loss fluctuations in a forward-fitting procedure utilizing multiple, differently filtered CR-39, altogether enabling high-sensitivity, multi-species particle spectroscopy. To validate this capability, we show that inferred CR-39 spectra match Thomson parabola ion spectrometer data from the same experiment. Filtered CR-39 spectrometers were used to detect, within a background of ~ 2 × 1011 sr-1 J-1 protons and carbons, (1.3 ± 0.7) × 108 sr-1 J-1 alpha particles from laser-driven proton-boron fusion reactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- M S Schollmeier
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany.
| | - J J Bekx
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
| | - J Hartmann
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
| | - E Schork
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
| | - M Speicher
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
| | - A F Brodersen
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
| | - A Fazzini
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
| | - P Fischer
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
| | - E Gaul
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
| | | | - M M Günther
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
| | - A K Härle
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
| | - R Hollinger
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA
| | - K Kenney
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
| | - J Park
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA
| | - D E Rivas
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
| | - V Scutelnic
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
| | - Z Shpilman
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA
| | - S Wang
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA
| | - J J Rocca
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA
- Physics Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA
| | - G Korn
- Marvel Fusion GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339, Munich, Germany
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