Speaker
Description
Laser-driven accelerators have gained interest in the recent years as they can offer an extremely versatile technology as the same machine can accelerate ions, electrons, and produce neutral radiation. This interest has pushed forward the development of facilities where users can exploit the unique features of laser-driven accelerators (e.g. ultrashort bunch duration) for a wide range of applications. We here report on the basic commissioning of the ELIMAIA (ELI Multidisciplinary Applications of laser-Ion Acceleration) laser-plasma accelerator [D. Margarone et al., Quantum Beam Sci. 2018, 2, 8], using the high-repetition-rate, high peak-power L3-HAPLS laser system at the ELI Beamlines user facility in Czech Republic. The laser beam (10 J, 30 fs) was tightly focused (~2 um, FWHM) to reach ultrahigh intensity on target (~10^21 W/cm2). Thin targets (10-20 um) of different composition (e.g. Mylar, Al, Au, and Ni) were investigated to optimize the Ion Accelerator performances.
The proton beam characteristics were monitored using a complete set of ion diagnostics (Thomson Parabola spectrometer, Time-Of-Flight detectors, nuclear track detectors, and radiochromic films). Additionally, the laser-target interaction and plasma features were characterized through various optical and X/gamma-ray diagnostics.
A detailed study of main interaction parameters has highlighted a strong correlation between the laser instabilities (in term of energy and in intensity on target) with proton and gamma fluctuations (in term of energy, flux and temperature).
We have successfully demonstrated the robustness of the available technology and solutions developed to have reliable and fast automation allowing operations (such as target positioning) and monitoring, diagnostics and data analysis of laser, plasma and ion features at ~1 Hz.
