Speaker
Description
A new high-power laser facility called “I-LUCE” (INFN Laser indUCEd radiation production) will start operations at LNS-INFN (Laboratori Nazionali del Sud – Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) in 2026.
The main building blocks of the laser system, from the oscillator to the compressor chamber, can be individually upgraded and continue to operate independently, allowing for fast scaling in total power and repetition rate for future performance upgrades, and change of configurations.
The system is based on Ti:Sapphire technology and will have two outputs: the first one will be a 50 TW laser line (25 fs, 1 J, 10 Hz) while the main laser line will be a 350 TW laser (25 fs, 8 J, 2.5 Hz) and upgradable to up to 500 TW. In each case variable pulse widths from 25 fs to a few picoseconds are possible by control mechanisms in the main stretcher.
I-LUCE will also count with a Coherent Astrella femtosecond laser providing laser pulses of up to 9 mJ of energy and 35 fs pulse duration at 1 kHz of repetition rate. Specific post-compression technology is being developed to arrive to sub-5 fs pulses with this laser, which opens alternative possibilities for electron acceleration and ultra-fast
physics experiments, including the development of specialized plasma diagnostics like spectroscopy and interferometry for plasma density measurements.
I-LUCE will serve two distinct experimental areas known as E1 and E2: E1 will offer a unique combination of laser-generated plasmas and accelerated heavy ion beams, produced by a Superconducting Cyclotron and a Tandem (already installed at LNS), thereby providing opportunities for novel experiments in the fields of plasma, nuclear and atomic physics. This experimental area will also be dedicated to experimental runs focused on nuclear fusion and studying stopping power of protons and alpha particles in laser-generated plasma.
Conversely, the E2 experimental area will be dedicated to both proton and electron acceleration. A specialized beamline designed to select, transport, and focus the generated proton beams with energies between 5-60 MeV will be installed and optimized for radiobiological experiments.
A corresponding beamline for selecting electron beams will also be implemented with the aim of studying novel flash radiotherapy approaches.
