D. Margarone

Generation of high pressure shocks relevant to the shock-ignition intensity regime

An experiment was performed using the PALS laser to study laser-target coupling and laser-plasma interaction in an intensity regime ≤1016u2009W/cm2, relevant for the “shock ignition” approach to Inertial Confinement Fusion. A first beam at low intensity was used to create an extended preformed plasma, and a second one to create a strong shock. Pressures up to 90 Megabars were inferred. Our results show the importance of the details of energy transport in the overdense region.

Measurement of electromagnetic pulses generated during interactions of high power lasers with solid targets

A target irradiated with a high power laser pulse, blows off a large amount of charge and as a consequence the target itself becomes a generator of electromagnetic pulses (EMP) owing to high return current flowing to the ground through the target holder. The first measurement of the magnetic field induced by the neutralizing current reaching a value of a few kA was performed with the use of an inductive target probe at the PALS Laser Facility (Cikhardt et al. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85 (2014) 103507). A full description of EMP generation should contain information on the spatial distribution and temporal variation of the electromagnetic field inside and outside of the interaction chamber. For this reason, we consider the interaction chamber as a resonant cavity in which different modes of EMP oscillate for hundreds of nanoseconds, until the EMP is transmitted outside through the glass windows and EM waves are attenuated. Since the experimental determination of the electromagnetic field distribution is limited by the number of employed antennas, a mapping of the electromagnetic field has to be integrated with numerical simulations. Thus, this work reports on a detailed numerical mapping of the electromagnetic field inside the interaction chamber at the PALS Laser Facility (covering a frequency spectrum from 100 MHz to 3 GHz) using the commercial code COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2. Moreover we carried out a comparison of the EMP generated in the parallelepiped-like interaction chamber used in the Vulcan Petawatt Laser Facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, against that produced in the spherical interaction chamber of PALS.

ELIMED, MEDical and multidisciplinary applications at ELI-Beamlines

ELI-Beamlines is one of the pillars of the pan-European project ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure). It will be an ultra high-intensity, high repetition-rate, femtosecond laser facility whose main goal is generation and applications of high-brightness X-ray sources and accelerated charged particles in different fields. Particular care will be devoted to the potential applicability of laser-driven ion beams for medical treatments of tumors. Indeed, such kind of beams show very interesting peculiarities and, moreover, laser-driven based accelerators can really represent a competitive alternative to conventional machines since they are expected to be more compact in size and less expensive. The ELIMED project was launched thanks to a collaboration established between FZU-ASCR (ELI-Beamlines) and INFN-LNS researchers. Several European institutes have already shown a great interest in the project aiming to explore the possibility to use laser-driven ion (mostly proton) beams for several applications with a particular regard for medical ones. To reach the project goal several tasks need to be fulfilled, starting from the optimization of laser-target interaction to dosimetric studies at the irradiation point at the end of a proper designed transport beam-line. Researchers from LNS have already developed and successfully tested a high-dispersive power Thomson Parabola Spectrometer, which is the first prototype of a more performing device to be used within the ELIMED project. Also a Magnetic Selection System able to produce a small pencil beam out of a wide energy distribution of ions produced in laser-target interaction has been realized and some preliminary work for its testing and characterization is in progress. In this contribution the status of the project will be reported together with a short description of the of the features of device recently developed.

Design of a large acceptance, high efficiency energy selection system for the ELIMAIA beam-line

A magnetic chicane based on four electromagnetic dipoles is going to be realized by INFN-LNS to be used as an Energy Selection System (ESS) for laser driven proton beams up to 300 MeV and C6+ up to 70 MeV/u. The system will provide, as output, ion beams with a contrallable energy spread varying from 5% up to 20% according to the aperture slit size. Moreover, it has a very wide acceptance in order to ensure a very high transmission efficiency and, in principle, it has been designed to be used also as an active energy modulator. This system is the core element of the ELIMED (ELI-Beamlines MEDical and Multidisciplinary applications) beam transport, dosimetry and irradiation line that will be developed by INFN-LNS (It) and installed at the ELI-Beamlines facility in Prague (Cz). ELIMED will be the first users open transport beam-line where a controlled laser-driven ion beam will be used for multidisciplinary research. The definition of well specified characteristics, both in terms of performance and field quality, of the magnetic chicane is crucial for the system realization, for the accurate study of the beam dynamics and for the proper matching with the Permanent Magnet Quadrupoles (PMQs) used as a collection system already designed. Here, the design of the magnetic chicane is described in details together with the adopted solutions in order to realize a robust system form the magnetic point of view. Moreover, the first preliminary transport simulations are also described showing the good performance of the whole beam line (PMQs+ESS).

Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) radiation by laser interaction with a solid H2 ribbon

The electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) generated during the interaction of a focused 1.315-μm sub-nanosecond laser pulse with a solid hydrogen ribbon were measured. The strength and temporal characteristics of EMPs were found to be dependent on the target density. If a low density target is ionized during the interaction with the laser, and the plasma does not physically touch the target holder, the EMP is weaker in strength and shorter in time duration. It is shown that during the H2 target experiment, the EMP does not strongly affect the response of fast electronic devices. The measurements of the EMP were carried out by Rohde&Schwarz B-Probes, particularly sensitive in the frequency range from 30u2009MHz and 1u2009GHz. Numerical simulations of resonant frequencies of the target chamber used in the experiment at the Prague Asterix Laser System kJ-class laser facility elucidate the peaked structure of EMP frequency spectra in the GHz domain.

TOF technique for laser-driven proton beam diagnostics for the ELIMED beamline

The Time of Flight (TOF) method for laser-driven ion beam diagnostics has been extensively investigated so far for low energy ion diagnostics and several works, reported in literature [1,2], have shown its efficiency in the measurement of particle beam characteristics such as ion species, energy spectrum and current. Moreover, such technique allows obtaining a shot-to-shot on-line monitoring of optically accelerated particles, necessary to control the reproducibility of the accelerated beam and to deliver a beam suitable for any kind of applications. For this reason, the ELIMED beamline [3,4], which will be entirely developed at INFN-LNS and installed in 2017 within the ion beamline ELIMAIA (ELI Multidisciplinary Applications of laser-Ion Acceleration) experimental hall at ELI-Beamlines in Prague, will be equipped with an on-line diagnostics system composed by silicon carbide and diamond detectors, using the TOF technique. In this contribution, the procedure developed for TOF signal analysis will be briefly reported.

Preliminary results from recent experiments and future roadmap to Shock Ignition of Fusion Targets

Shock ignition (SI) is a new approach to Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) based on decoupling the compression and ignition phase. The last one relies on launching a strong shock through a high intensity laser spike (≤ 1016 W/cm2) at the end of compression. In this paper, first we described an experiment performed using the PALS iodine laser to study laser-target coupling and laser-plasma interaction in an intensity regime relevant for SI. A first beam with wavelength λ = 1.33 μm and low intensity was used to create an extended preformed plasma, and a second one with λ = 0.44 μm to create a strong shock. Several diagnostics characterized the preformed plasma and the interaction of the main pulse. Pressure up to 90 Mbar was inferred. In the last paper of the paper, we discuss the relevant steps, which can be followed in order to approach the demonstration of SI on laser facilities like LMJ.

Prompt gamma-ray emission for future imaging applications in proton-boron fusion therapy

Recently, an approach exploiting the proton therapy biological enhancement by using Boron atoms injected inside a tumor, has been proposed [1-3]. Here, the 11B(p,α)2α nuclear fusion reaction channel, where three alpha particles are produced with an average energy around 4 MeV, is considered [4]. These alphas are able to penetrate the cells nucleus and strongly damage their DNA. In addition, gamma prompts emitted by the proton Boron nuclear reactions can be used for on-line proton beam imaging purposes. In this work an experimental study of the gamma prompt emissions from the proton Boron nuclear reactions has been carried out with the main aim to understand and quantify the most probable emission for future clinical applications.

Enhanced TNSA acceleration with 0.1-1 PW lasers

The enhancement of laser-driven proton acceleration mechanism in TNSA regime has been demonstrated through the use of advanced nanostructured thin foils. The presence of a monolayer of polystyrene nanospheres on the target frontside has drastically enhanced the absorption of the incident laser beam, leading to a consequent increase in the maximum proton beam energy and total laser conversion efficiency. The experimental measurements have been carried out at the 100 TW and 1 PW laser systems available at the APRI-GIST facility. Experimental results and comparison with particle-in-cell numerical simulations are presented and discussed.

Numerical simulations to model laser-driven coil-capacitor targets for generation of kilo-Tesla magnetic fields

A coil-capacitor target is modeled using FEM simulations and analytical calculations, which allow to explain the time evolution of such complex target during magnetic field production driven by the flow of an extremely high current generated through the interaction with a high power laser. The numerical model includes a detailed study of the magnetic field produced by the coil-capacitor target, both in the static and transient cases, as well as magnetic force and Joule heating. The model is validated by experimental data reported in literature and can be of interest for several applications. As an example, the combination of two synchronized nanosecond lasers with the purpose of producing a plasma responsible of the proton-boron (p+ + 11B → 8.5 MeV + 3α) fusion reaction, and energizing two multi-turn coils with the main purpose of confining such a plasma could enhance the reaction rate. The preliminary conceptual design of a magnetic mirror configuration to be used for confining protons and boron ions up ...