Ki Hong Pae

Enhancement of electron energy to the multi-GeV regime by a dual-stage laser-wakefield accelerator pumped by petawatt laser pulses.

Laser-wakefield acceleration offers the promise of a compact electron accelerator for generating a multi-GeV electron beam using the huge field gradient induced by an intense laser pulse, compared to conventional rf accelerators. However, the energy and quality of the electron beam from the laser-wakefield accelerator have been limited by the power of the driving laser pulses and interaction properties in the target medium. Recent progress in laser technology has resulted in the realization of a petawatt (PW) femtosecond laser, which offers new capabilities for research on laser-wakefield acceleration. Here, we present a significant increase in laser-driven electron energy to the multi-GeV level by utilizing a 30-fs, 1-PW laser system. In particular, a dual-stage laser-wakefield acceleration scheme (injector and accelerator scheme) was applied to boost electron energies to over 3xa0GeV with a single PW laser pulse. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations corroborate the multi-GeV electron generation from the dual-stage laser-wakefield accelerator driven by PW laser pulses.

Transition of proton energy scaling using an ultrathin target irradiated by linearly polarized femtosecond laser pulses.

Particle acceleration using ultraintense, ultrashort laser pulses is one of the most attractive topics in relativistic laser-plasma research. We report proton/ion acceleration in the intensity range of 5x1019 W/cm2 to 3.3x1020 W/cm2 by irradiating linearly polarized, 30-fs, 1-PW laser pulses on 10- to 100-nm-thick polymer targets. The proton energy scaling with respect to the intensity and target thickness was examined. The experiments demonstrated, for the first time with linearly polarized light, a transition from the target normal sheath acceleration to radiation pressure acceleration and showed a maximum proton energy of 45 MeV when a 10-nm-thick target was irradiated by a laser intensity of 3.3x1020 W/cm2. The experimental results were further supported by two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Based on the deduced proton energy scaling, proton beams having an energy of ~ 200 MeV should be feasible at a laser intensity of 1.5x1021 W/cm2.

Efficient production of a collimated MeV proton beam from a polyimide target driven by an intense femtosecond laser pulse

High-flux energetic protons whose maximum energies are up to 4MeV are generated by an intense femtosecond titanium:sapphire laser pulse interacting with 7.5, 12.5, and 25μm thick polyimide tape targets. Laser pulse with an energy of 1.7J and with a duration of 34fs is focused with an f/3.4 parabolic mirror giving an intensity of 3×1019Wcm−2. The main pulse to amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) intensity contrast ratio is 2.5×107. The conversion efficiency from the laser energy into the proton kinetic energies is achieved to be ∼3%, which is comparable to or even higher than those achieved in the previous works; using nanometer-thick targets, in combination with the short-pulse lasers that have almost the same pulse width and the intensity but different main pulse to ASE intensity contrast of ∼1010 [Neely et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 021502 (2006)], in which the authors claim that the main mechanism is target normal sheath acceleration; or using the 7.5μm thick polyimide target, in combination with the ...

Radiation pressure acceleration of protons to 93 MeV with circularly polarized petawatt laser pulses

The radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) of charged particles has been a challenging task in laser-driven proton/ion acceleration due to its stringent requirements in laser and target conditions. The realization of radiation-pressure-driven proton acceleration requires irradiating ultrathin targets with an ultrahigh contrast and ultraintense laser pulses. We report the generation of 93-MeV proton beams achieved by applying 800-nm 30-fs circularly polarized laser pulses with an intensity of 6.1×1020u2009W/cm2 to 15-nm-thick polymer targets. The radiation pressure acceleration was confirmed from the obtained optimal target thickness, quadratic energy scaling, polarization dependence, and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We expect this clear demonstration of RPA to facilitate the realization of laser-driven proton/ion sources delivering energetic and short-pulse particle beams for novel applications.

Simultaneous generation of ions and high-order harmonics from thin conjugated polymer foil irradiated with ultrahigh contrast laser

We report the manufacturing of an (ultra-)thin foil target made of conjugated polymer, poly(9,9′-dioctylfluorene-co-benzothiadiazole) (F8BT), and the simultaneous observation of laser-accelerated ions and second harmonic radiation, when irradiated with ultrahigh-contrast laser pulse at a maximum intensity of 4u2009×u20091019u2009W/cm2. Maximum proton energy of 8 MeV is achieved along the target normal direction. Strong second harmonic with over 6% energy ratio compared to fundamental is emitted along the specular direction. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations confirm the simultaneous generation of protons and high-order harmonics, which demonstrates the feasibility of applications requiring particle and radiation sources at once, effectively using the same laser and target.

Relativistic frequency upshift to the extreme ultraviolet regime using self-induced oscillatory flying mirrors

Coherent short-wavelength radiation from laser–plasma interactions is of increasing interest in disciplines including ultrafast biomolecular imaging and attosecond physics. Using solid targets instead of atomic gases could enable the generation of coherent extreme ultraviolet radiation with higher energy and more energetic photons. Here we present the generation of extreme ultraviolet radiation through coherent high-harmonic generation from self-induced oscillatory flying mirrors—a new-generation mechanism established in a long underdense plasma on a solid target. Using a 30-fs, 100-TW Ti:sapphire laser, we obtain wavelengths as short as 4.9u2009nm for an optimized level of amplified spontaneous emission. Particle-in-cell simulations show that oscillatory flying electron nanosheets form in a long underdense plasma, and suggest that the high-harmonic generation is caused by reflection of the laser pulse from electron nanosheets. We expect this extreme ultraviolet radiation to be valuable in realizing a compact X-ray instrument for research in biomolecular imaging and attosecond physics.

Effects of the Micro-hole Target Structures on the Laser-driven Energetic Proton Generation

Micro-hole targets are studied to generate energetic protons from laser-thin foil targets by using 2-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. By using a small hole, the maximum energy of the accelerated proton is increased to 4 times higher than that from a simple planar target. The main proton acceleration mechanism of the hole-targets is the electrostatic field created between the fast electrons accelerated by the laser pulse ponderomotive force combined with the vacuum heating and the target rear surface. But in this case, the proton angular distribution shows double-peak shape, which means poor collimation and low current density. By using a small cone-shaped hole, the maximum proton energy is increased 3 times higher than that from a simple planar target. Furthermore, the angular distribution of the accelerated protons shows good collimation.

Stable multi-GeV electron accelerator driven by waveform-controlled PW laser pulses

The achievable energy and the stability of accelerated electron beams have been the most critical issues in laser wakefield acceleration. As laser propagation, plasma wave formation and electron acceleration are highly nonlinear processes, the laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) is extremely sensitive to initial experimental conditions. We propose a simple and elegant waveform control method for the LWFA process to enhance the performance of a laser electron accelerator by applying a fully optical and programmable technique to control the chirp of PW laser pulses. We found sensitive dependence of energy and stability of electron beams on the spectral phase of laser pulses and obtained stable 2-GeV electron beams from a 1-cm gas cell of helium. The waveform control technique for LWFA would prompt practical applications of centimeter-scale GeV-electron accelerators to a compact radiation sources in the x-ray and γ-ray regions.

Generation of quasi-monoenergetic protons from a double-species target driven by the radiation pressure of an ultraintense laser pulse

In laser-driven proton acceleration, generation of quasi-monoenergetic proton beams has been considered a crucial feature of the radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) scheme, but the required difficult physical conditions have hampered its experimental realization. As a method to generate quasi-monoenergetic protons under experimentally viable conditions, we investigated using double-species targets of controlled composition ratio in order to make protons bunched in the phase space in the RPA scheme. From a modified optimum condition and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we showed by varying the ion composition ratio of proton and carbon that quasi-monoenergetic protons could be generated from ultrathin plane targets irradiated with a circularly polarized Gaussian laser pulse. The proposed scheme should facilitate the experimental realization of ultrashort quasi-monoenergetic proton beams for unique applications in high field science.

Development of x-ray sources using PW laser systems at APRI GIST

A PW Ti:Sapphire laser with 30-J energy and 30-fs pulse duration has been developed at GIST and applied to generate x-rays and energetic charged particles. We present the status and plan of developing ultrashort x-ray sources and their applications. We successfully demonstrated x-ray lasers and their applications to high-resolution imaging. In addition, we plan to generate high flux x-ray/gamma-ray sources using the PW laser.