V. Chvykov

Ultra-high intensity- 300-TW laser at 0.1 Hz repetition rate.

We demonstrate the highest intensity - 300 TW laser by developing booster amplifying stage to the 50-TW-Ti:sapphire laser (HERCULES). To our knowledge this is the first multi-100TW-scale laser at 0.1 Hz repetition rate.

Generation of 10 11 contrast 50 TW laser pulses

We demonstrate what we believe to be the highest-contrast (1011), multiterawatt, chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) Ti:sapphire laser by applying the modified cross-polarized-wave (XPW) generation method. This method produces a contrast improvement of 3 orders of magnitude using microjoule input energy. Microjoule energy can be achieved by direct amplification without the complications of a double CPA system. The 1011 contrast is sufficient for experiments on high-damage-threshold solid targets with focused intensities up to 1022 W/cm2.

Accelerating protons to therapeutic energies with ultraintense, ultraclean, and ultrashort laser pulses

Proton acceleration by high-intensity laser pulses from ultrathin foils for hadron therapy is discussed. With the improvement of the laser intensity contrast ratio to 10(-1) achieved on the Hercules laser at the University of Michigan, it became possible to attain laser-solid interactions at intensities up to 10(22) W/cm2 that allows an efficient regime of laser-driven ion acceleration from submicron foils. Particle-in-cell (PIC) computer simulations of proton acceleration in the directed Coulomb explosion regime from ultrathin double-layer (heavy ions/light ions) foils of different thicknesses were performed under the anticipated experimental conditions for the Hercules laser with pulse energies from 3 to 15 J, pulse duration of 30 fs at full width half maximum (FWHM), focused to a spot size of 0.8 microm (FWHM). In this regime heavy ions expand predominantly in the direction of laser pulse propagation enhancing the longitudinal charge separation electric field that accelerates light ions. The dependence of the maximum proton energy on the foil thickness has been found and the laser pulse characteristics have been matched with the thickness of the target to ensure the most efficient acceleration. Moreover, the proton spectrum demonstrates a peaked structure at high energies, which is required for radiation therapy. Two-dimensional PIC simulations show that a 150-500 TW laser pulse is able to accelerate protons up to 100-220 MeV energies.

Generation of GeV protons from 1 PW laser interaction with near critical density targets.

The propagation of ultraintense laser pulses through matter is connected with the generation of strong moving magnetic fields in the propagation channel as well as the formation of a thin ion filament along the axis of the channel. Upon exiting the plasma the magnetic field displaces the electrons at the back of the target, generating a quasistatic electric field that accelerates and collimates ions from the filament. Two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that a 1 PW laser pulse tightly focused on a near-critical density target is able to accelerate protons up to an energy of 1.3 GeV. Scaling laws and optimal conditions for proton acceleration are established considering the energy depletion of the laser pulse.

Table-Top Laser-Based Source of Femtosecond, Collimated, Ultrarelativistic Positron Beams

The generation of ultrarelativistic positron beams with short duration (τ(e+) ≃ 30  fs), small divergence (θ(e+) ≃ 3  mrad), and high density (n(e+) ≃ 10(14)-10(15)  cm(-3)) from a fully optical setup is reported. The detected positron beam propagates with a high-density electron beam and γ rays of similar spectral shape and peak energy, thus closely resembling the structure of an astrophysical leptonic jet. It is envisaged that this experimental evidence, besides the intrinsic relevance to laser-driven particle acceleration, may open the pathway for the small-scale study of astrophysical leptonic jets in the laboratory.

X-ray phase contrast imaging of biological specimens with femtosecond pulses of betatron radiation from a compact laser plasma wakefield accelerator

We show that x-rays from a recently demonstrated table top source of bright, ultrafast, coherent synchrotron radiation [Kneip et al., Nat. Phys. 6, 980 (2010)] can be applied to phase contrast imaging of biological specimens. Our scheme is based on focusing a high power short pulse laser in a tenuous gas jet, setting up a plasma wakefield accelerator that accelerates and wiggles electrons analogously to a conventional synchrotron, but on the centimeter rather than tens of meter scale. We use the scheme to record absorption and phase contrast images of a tetra fish, damselfly and yellow jacket, in particular highlighting the contrast enhancement achievable with the simple propagation technique of phase contrast imaging. Coherence and ultrafast pulse duration will allow for the study of various aspects of biomechanics.

Characterization of transverse beam emittance of electrons from a laser-plasma wakefield accelerator in the bubble regime using betatron x-ray radiation

We propose and use a technique to measure the transverse emittance of a laser-wakefield accelerated beam of relativistic electrons. The technique is based on the simultaneous measurements of the electron beam divergence given by v(perpendicular to)/v(parallel to), the measured spectrum gamma, and the transverse electron bunch size in the bubble r(perpendicular to). The latter is obtained via the measurement of the source size of the x rays emitted by the accelerating electron bunch in the bubble. We measure a normalized rms beam transverse emittance <0.5 pi mm mrad as an upper limit for a spatially Gaussian, spectrally quasimonoenergetic electron beam with 230 MeV energy in agreement with numerical modeling and analytic theory in the bubble regime.

Studies of laser wakefield structures and electron acceleration in underdense plasmas

Experiments on electron acceleration and optical diagnostics of laser wakes were performed on the HERCULES facility in a wide range of laser and plasma parameters. Using frequency domain holography we demonstrated single shot visualization of individual plasma waves, produced by 40TW, 30fs laser pulses focused to the intensity of 1019W∕cm2 onto a supersonic He gas jet with plasma densities ne<1019cm−3. These holographic “snapshots” capture the variation in shape of the plasma wave with distance behind the driver, and resolve wave front curvature seen previously only in simulations. High-energy quasimonoenergetic electron beams were generated using plasma density in the range 1.5×1019≤ne≤3.5×1019cm−3. These experiments demonstrated that the energy, charge, divergence, and pointing stability of the beam can be controlled by changing ne, and that higher electron energies and more stable beams are produced for lower densities. An optimized quasimonoenergetic beam of over 300MeV and 10mrad angular divergence i...

Improvements to laser wakefield accelerated electron beam stability, divergence, and energy spread using three-dimensional printed two-stage gas cell targets

High intensity, short pulse lasers can be used to accelerate electrons to ultra-relativistic energies via laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) [T. Tajima and J. M. Dawson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 43, 267 (1979)]. Recently, it was shown that separating the injection and acceleration processes into two distinct stages could prove beneficial in obtaining stable, high energy electron beams [Gonsalves et al., Nat. Phys. 7, 862 (2011); Liu et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 035001 (2011); Pollock et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 045001 (2011)]. Here, we use a stereolithography based 3D printer to produce two-stage gas targets for LWFA experiments on the HERCULES laser system at the University of Michigan. We demonstrate substantial improvements to the divergence, pointing stability, and energy spread of a laser wakefield accelerated electron beam compared with a single-stage gas cell or gas jet target.

Relativistic plasma shutter for ultraintense laser pulses

A relativistic plasma shutter technique is proposed and tested to remove the sub-100 ps pedestal of a high-intensity laser pulse. The shutter is an ultrathin foil placed before the target of interest. As the leading edge of the laser ionizes the shutter material it will expand into a relativistically underdense plasma allowing for the peak pulse to propagate through while rejecting the low intensity pedestal. An increase in the laser temporal contrast is demonstrated by measuring characteristic signatures in the accelerated proton spectra and directionality from the interaction of 30 TW pulses with ultrathin foils along with supporting hydrodynamic and particle-in-cell simulations.