Ultra-short pulse laser acceleration of protons to 80 MeV from cryogenic hydrogen jets tailored to near-critical density.

ABSTRACT: Laser plasma-based particle accelerators attract great interest in fields where conventional accelerators reach limits based on size, cost or beam parameters. Despite the fact that particle in cell simulations have predicted several advantageous ion acceleration schemes, laser accelerators have not yet reached their full potential in producing simultaneous high-radiation doses at high particle energies. The most stringent limitation is the lack of a suitable high-repetition rate target that also provides a high degree of control of the plasma conditions required to access these advanced regimes. Here, we demonstrate that the interaction of petawatt-class laser pulses with a pre-formed micrometer-sized cryogenic hydrogen jet plasma overcomes these limitations enabling tailored density scans

SUBMITTER: Rehwald M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10329016 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature