Chengkun Huang

Experimental demonstration of particle energy, conversion efficiency and spectral shape required for ion-based fast ignition

Research on fusion fast ignition (FI) initiated by laser-driven ion beams has made substantial progress in the last years. Compared with electrons, FI based on a beam of quasi-monoenergetic ions has the advantage of a more localized energy deposition, and stiffer particle transport, bringing the required total beam energy close to the theoretical minimum. Due to short pulse laser drive, the ion beam can easily deliver the 200 TW power required to ignite the compressed D–T fuel. In integrated calculations we recently simulated ion-based FI targets with high fusion gain targets and a proof of principle experiment [1]. These simulations identify three key requirements for the success of ion-driven fast ignition (IFI): (1) the generation of a sufficiently high-energetic ion beam (≈400–500 MeV for C), with (2) less than 20% energy spread at (3) more than 10% conversion efficiency of laser to beam energy. Here we present for the first time new experimental results, demonstrating all three parameters in separate experiments. Using diamond nanotargets and ultrahigh contrast laser pulses we were able to demonstrate >500 MeV carbon ions, as well as carbon pulses with ΔE/E < 20%. The first measurements put the total conversion efficiency of laser light into high energy carbon ions on the order of 10%.

Efficient quasi-monoenergetic ion beams from laser-driven relativistic plasmas

Table-top laser–plasma ion accelerators have many exciting applications, many of which require ion beams with simultaneous narrow energy spread and high conversion efficiency. However, achieving these requirements has been elusive. Here we report the experimental demonstration of laser-driven ion beams with narrow energy spread and energies up to 18 MeV per nucleon and ∼5% conversion efficiency (that is 4 J out of 80-J laser). Using computer simulations we identify a self-organizing scheme that reduces the ion energy spread after the laser exits the plasma through persisting self-generated plasma electric (∼1012 V m−1) and magnetic (∼104 T) fields. These results contribute to the development of next generation compact accelerators suitable for many applications such as isochoric heating for ion-fast ignition and producing warm dense matter for basic science.

Ultraintense laser interaction with nanoscale targets: a simple model for layer expansion and ion acceleration

A simple model has been derived for expansion of a thin (up to 100s of nm thickness) target initially of solid density irradiated by an ultraintense laser. In this regime, ion acceleration mechanisms, such as the Break-Out Afterburner (BOA) [1], emerge with the potential for dramatically improved energy, efficiency, and energy spread. Ion beams have been proposed [2] as drivers for fast ignition inertial confinement fusion [3]. Analysis of kinetic simulations of the BOA shows the period of enhanced acceleration occurs between times t1, when the target becomes relativistically transparent to the laser, and t2, when the target becomes classically underdense and the enhanced acceleration terminates. A simple model for target expansion has been derived that contains early, one-dimensional (1D) expansion of the target and three-dimensional (3D) expansion at late times. The model assumes expansion is slab-like at the instantaneous ion sound speed and requires as input target composition, laser intensity, laser spot area, and the efficiency of laser absorption into electron thermal energy.