T. McCanny

Observation of a highly directional γ-ray beam from ultrashort, ultraintense laser pulse interactions with solids

Novel measurements of electromagnetic radiation above 10 MeV are presented for ultra intense laser pulse interactions with solids. A bright, highly directional source of γ rays was observed directly behind the target. The γ rays were produced by bremsstrahlung radiation from energetic electrons generated during the interaction. They were measured using the photoneutron reaction [63Cu(γ,n)62Cu] in copper. The resulting activity was measured by coincidence counting the positron annihilation γ rays which were produced from the decay of 62Cu. New measurements of the bremsstrahlung radiation at 1019 W cm−2 are also presented.

Production of radioactive nuclides by energetic protons generated from intense laser-plasma interactions

Nuclear activation has been observed in materials exposed to the ablated plasma generated from high intensity laser–solid interactions (at focused intensities up to 2×1019 W/cm2) and is produced by protons having energies up to 30 MeV. The energy spectrum of the protons is determined from these activation measurements and is found to be consistent with other ion diagnostics. The possible development of this technique for “table-top” production of radionuclides for medical applications is also discussed.

High power laser production of short-lived isotopes for positron emission tomography

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a powerful diagnostic/imaging technique requiring the production of the short-lived positron emitting isotopes 11C, 13N, 15O and 18F by proton irradiation of natural/enriched targets using cyclotrons. The development of PET has been hampered due to the size and shielding requirements of nuclear installations. Recent results show that when an intense laser beam interacts with solid targets, megaelectronvolt (MeV) protons capable of producing PET isotopes are generated. This report describes how to generate intense PET sources of 11C and 18F using a petawatt laser beam. The work describing the laser production of 18F through a (p,n) 18O reaction, and the subsequent synthesis of 2-[18F] is reported for the first time. The potential for developing compact laser technology for this purpose is discussed.

Laser-driven photo-transmutation of 129I - a long-lived nuclear waste product

Intense laser–plasma interactions produce high brightness beams of gamma rays, neutrons and ions and have the potential to deliver accelerating gradients more than 1000 times higher than conventional accelerator technology, and on a tabletop scale. This paper demonstrates one of the exciting applications of this technology, namely for transmutation studies of long-lived radioactive waste. We report the laser-driven photo-transmutation of long-lived 129 I with a half-life of 15.7 million years to 128 I with a half-life of 25 min. In addition, an integrated cross-section of 97±40 mbarns for the reaction 129 I(γ ,n) 128 I is determined from the measured ratio of the (γ ,n) induced 128 I and 126 I activities. The potential for affordable, easy to shield, tabletop laser technology for nuclear transmutation studies is highlighted.

Time-of-flight mass spectrometry of aromatic molecules subjected to high intensity laser beams

The recent introduction of femtosecond technology to pulsed lasers has led to the development of femtosecond laser mass spectrometry (FLMS). The present paper describes an FLMS investigation of the aromatic molecules, benzene, toluene and naphthalene. Wavelengths of 750 and 375 nm were used with beam intensities up to 4 × 1014 W cm−2. Pulse widths were of the order of 50–90 fs. The laser system was coupled to a linear time-of-flight mass spectrometer. This experimental method of chemical analysis is gaining momentum, often replacing its nanosecond forerunner, resonant enhanced multiphoton ionization. For the said molecules, predominant parent ion production is found, making identification unambiguous. In fact this characteristic is being consistently attained in small to medium mass molecules irradiated under similar conditions, leading to the conclusion that a universal chemical detection system is a possibility. Such soft ionization is particularly evident at longer wavelengths (∼750 nm) with less relative fragmentation, daughter ion formation, compared to results at shorter wavelengths (∼375 nm). In terms of parent ion formation, similar numbers are produced with laser intensities around 1014 W cm−2 for both wavelengths. It has also been shown that at a threshold of about 5 × 1013 W cm−2, double ionized molecules appear for the 750 nm wavelength. These interesting new mass spectra display intense single, double and even triple ionized peaks without significantly increased dissociation. Such effects are less pronounced at 375 nm. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Neutron production by fast protons from ultraintense laser-plasma interactions

Tens of MeV proton beams have been generated by interactions of the VULCAN petawatt laser with foil targets and used to induce nuclear reactions in zinc and boron samples. The numbers of C11, Ga66, Ga67, Ga68, Cu61, Zn62, Zn63, and Zn69m nuclei have been measured and used to determine the proton energy spectrum. It is known that (p,n) reactions provide an important method for producing neutron sources and in the present experiment up to ∼109neutronssr−1 have been generated via B11(p,n)C11 reactions. Using experimentally determined proton energy spectra, the production of neutrons via (p,n) reactions in various targets has been simulated, to quantify neutron pulse intensities and energy spectra. It has been shown that as high as 4×109neutronssr−1 per laser pulse can be generated via Li7(p,n)B7 reactions using the present VULCAN petawatt laser-pulse conditions.

Ionisation and fragmentation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by femtosecond laser pulses at wavelengths resonant with cation transitions

When femtosecond laser pulses irradiate hydrocarbon molecules, then many fragmentation channels evident in nanosecond irradiation are bypassed, providing a strong analytically useful parent ion. However a number of molecules show only a very small or indeed no parent ions and recent papers suggest that those that do not produce parent peaks have cation transitions in resonance with the femtosecond laser wavelength. This Letter shows that this resonance effect is not universal and some aromatic molecules not only show strong parent peaks but also doubly and triply ionised entities when their cation absorption spectrum is strongly resonant at either the 800 or 400 nm or indeed both.

On the fragment ion angular distributions arising from the tetrahedral molecule CH3I

The mass spectra for both horizontal and vertical polarizations and the angular distributions of fragment ions arising from Coulomb explosion of tetrahedral methyl iodide (CH3I) ions, obtained at a laser intensity of 1016 W cm-2 are presented. All fragment ion distributions are peaked along the direction corresponding to collinearity of the laser electric field with the time-of-flight mass spectrometer axis. The In + ion (n≤7) angular distributions from the dissociation of the parent ions are all of similar widths, which would imply a geometric, as opposed to dynamic, alignment. Additionally, the lower-charged I ions have an isotropic component that decreases as the charge state increases. Measurements of the CHm+ (m≤3), Cp + (p≤4) and H+ ion distributions show that these are also maximal along the polarization direction. Furthermore, there is also a CH22+ ion peak present in the CHm group, which has a distribution similar to those measured for the other ions. This mass peak is the prominent multi-charged ion in this group. As the CH3I molecule is initially tetrahedral, these results suggest that the molecular structure undergoes a change such that the H-C and C-I bonds tend to lie along the field. Several authors have described work which first aligned CH3I molecules with a nanosecond laser and then photodissociated with a femtosecond laser, to produce fragment ion distributions. This is the first time that the angular distributions from a tetrahedral molecule have been presented using femtosecond laser pulses only and in the case of CH3I, for fragments other than CH3+ and I+. The fragment energetics from the single CH3I molecule have been compared with those from recent work dealing with the Coulomb explosion of CH3I clusters.

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ANGULAR DISTRIBUTIONS OF FRAGMENT IONS ARISING FROM THE LINEAR CS2 AND CO2 MOLECULES

The nonlinear interaction of the triatomic molecules CS2 and CO2 with the intense field of a linearly polarized laser beam of femtosecond (fs) pulse duration, was used to study the ionization and dissociation of the parent molecule. The fragment ion angular distributions arising from the Coulomb explosion of the parent ions were also measured. For CS2, the angular distributions of CS2+, CS22+, CS23+, CS+, CS2+, Sn+ (n6) and Cm+ (m4) ions are presented for a laser intensity of 1 × 1016 W cm-2 at a wavelength of 790 nm and pulse duration of 50 fs. The angular distributions of the parent molecular ions are all isotropic. The Sn+ fragments are peaked along the time-of-flight (TOF) axis, whereas the Cm+ fragments explode perpendicularly to this. Similar results for CO2 are also presented for comparison. The S ion distributions do not narrow as their ionic charge increases, and it is argued that the angular distributions for CS2 are due mainly to the angular dependence of the ionization probability. On the other hand, the distributions from the lighter CO2 molecule are thought to be at least partly due to alignment via dipole moments induced by the laser, as in this case the On+ angular distributions are seen to narrow as their charge increases. The conclusion of these results is that the laser pulse may be too short for the CS2 molecule to align in the pulse. Angular distributions are also presented for varying laser pulse durations, in the range of 50 fs to 300 ps. The dynamics of the ionization/dissociation mechanism are discussed in the context of the TOF mass spectra and angular distributions recorded for CS2.

Low- and medium-mass ion acceleration driven by petawatt laser plasma interactions

An experimental investigation of low- and medium-mass ion acceleration from resistively heated thin foil targets, irradiated by picosecond laser pulses at intensities up to 5 × 1020 W cm−2, is reported. It is found that the spectral distributions of ions, up to multi-MeV/nucleon energies, accelerated from the rear surface of the target are broadly consistent with previously reported measurements made at intensities up to 5 × 1019 W cm−2. Properties of the backward-directed beams of ions accelerated from the target front surface are also measured, and it is found that, compared with the rear surface, higher ion numbers and charges, and similar ion energies are produced. Additionally, the scaling of the maximum ion energy as a function of ion charge and laser intensity are measured and compared with the predictions of a numerical model.