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JAFER, RASHIDA. "Laser plasma protons and applications in cancer therapy and proton radiography." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10281/7457.
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Recent developments in high power, ultrashort pulse laser systems enable laser intensities beyond 10^21 W/cm^2 to be achieved. When focused onto thin foil targets, plasmas with extremely high electrostatic fields (>10^12V/m) are produced, resulting in the acceleration of protons/ions to very high energies (~60MeV). During my PhD, I have worked on experimental investigations into proton acceleration driven by high power laser pulses. Key to successful deployment of laser proton sources one one side is getting higher proton energies through to achieve the ultimate goal of realising table top machines for the treatment of cancer and on the other side, optimising the beam quality, an objective that was of the main motivation for my PhD work. My two main achievements were:
1. The production of bright, ultrashort and radially smooth pulsed proton beams using laser heating of pre-plasmas formed with long (nanosecond) pulses with ultrahigh intensity picosecond pulses.
2. Use of these beams to study the ultrafast dynamics of target implosion under intense laser irradiation
The experiments on proton acceleration with the specific goal of controlling the proton beam quality by optical tool design, were performed at RAL. This scheme involves the use of multiple laser pulses to enhance and control the properties of beams of protons accelerated in ultra-intense laser irradiation of planar foil targets. Specifically, one laser pulse produces and controls the expansion of the target to enhance the energy coupling to the main (delayed) laser and/or drives shock deformation of the target to change the direction of the proton beam. The preplasma formed by this low intensity nanosecond beam (~ 0.5-5x10^12 W/cm^2) was used to enhance the laser absorption of the main (delayed) CPA (Chirped pulse amplified). The main CPA picosecond beam was used at high intensity (~ 4x 10^20 W /cm^2) to produce intense proton beams from the hydrogen rich target. The optimum intensity of the nanosecond beam was investigated and optimised to yield a very smooth and circular distribution of the proton beam achieved using a second long pulse laser at 5x10^12w/cm^2.
The second achievement concerns an experiment also performed at RAL on proton radiography. As the laser based protons are characterised by small source size, high degree of collimation and short duration, they can be used in point projection backlighting schemes to perform radiography. In particular, I used this idea to perform radiography of a cylindrical target ~ 200µm long imploding under irradiation by long laser pulses of nanosecond duration. This allows measuring the degree of compression of the target as well as the stagnation time in the dynamic regime. The experiment took place in the framework of the HiPER project (the European High Power laser Energy Research facility Project). The final goal of the experiment was to study the transport of fast electron in cylindrical compressed target a subject of interest for fast ignition. In parallel to proton radiography x-ray radiography was used to compare the results. One of the specific advantages of using laser generated protons is that their spectrum is continuous upto a high energy cutoff. Because of their different time of flights protons proved to be very effective in revealing the implosion history of the target. In principle, the obtained implosion can be followed in time with a single shot sensitivity. Instead x-ray radiograph gives one image per laser shot at one fixed time and one has to make several shots in order to reveal the complete history of implosion. Another advantage of using proton radiography is a simpler experimental setup keeping imploding cylinder between proton target and proton detector on the same axis. Simulations of formation of proton images were made with the Monte Carlo MCNPX Code using the density profiles of the imploded cylinder obtained with the 2D-hydro CHIC code. A detailed study of Multiple Coulomb Scattering and Stopping Powers of the protons in low energy regimes for cold and warm matter was done to interpret the experimental results.
Finally, I’m taking part in the analysis of experimental results obtained at the University of Rochester (USA) on the Omega-EP laser, and concerning magnetic field effect on the proton radiographs of a wired cone.
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Sinigardi, Stefano <1985>. "Laser driven proton acceleration and beam shaping." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2014. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/6230/1/sinigardi_stefano_tesi.pdf.
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In the race to obtain protons with higher energies, using more compact systems at the same time, laser-driven plasma accelerators are becoming an interesting possibility. But for now, only beams with extremely broad energy spectra and high divergence have been produced.
The driving line of this PhD thesis was the study and design of a compact system to extract a high quality beam out of the initial bunch of protons produced by the interaction of a laser pulse with a thin solid target, using experimentally reliable technologies in order to be able to test such a system as soon as possible.
In this thesis, different transport lines are analyzed. The first is based on a high field pulsed solenoid, some collimators and, for perfect filtering and post-acceleration, a high field high frequency compact linear accelerator, originally designed to accelerate a 30 MeV beam extracted from a cyclotron.
The second one is based on a quadruplet of permanent magnetic quadrupoles: thanks to its greater simplicity and reliability, it has great interest for experiments, but the effectiveness is lower than the one based on the solenoid; in fact, the final beam intensity drops by an order of magnitude.
An additional sensible decrease in intensity is verified in the third case, where the energy selection is achieved using a chicane, because of its very low efficiency for off-axis protons.
The proposed schemes have all been analyzed with 3D simulations and all the significant results are presented. Future experimental work based on the outcome of this thesis can be planned and is being discussed now.
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Sinigardi, Stefano <1985>. "Laser driven proton acceleration and beam shaping." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2014. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/6230/.
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In the race to obtain protons with higher energies, using more compact systems at the same time, laser-driven plasma accelerators are becoming an interesting possibility. But for now, only beams with extremely broad energy spectra and high divergence have been produced.
The driving line of this PhD thesis was the study and design of a compact system to extract a high quality beam out of the initial bunch of protons produced by the interaction of a laser pulse with a thin solid target, using experimentally reliable technologies in order to be able to test such a system as soon as possible.
In this thesis, different transport lines are analyzed. The first is based on a high field pulsed solenoid, some collimators and, for perfect filtering and post-acceleration, a high field high frequency compact linear accelerator, originally designed to accelerate a 30 MeV beam extracted from a cyclotron.
The second one is based on a quadruplet of permanent magnetic quadrupoles: thanks to its greater simplicity and reliability, it has great interest for experiments, but the effectiveness is lower than the one based on the solenoid; in fact, the final beam intensity drops by an order of magnitude.
An additional sensible decrease in intensity is verified in the third case, where the energy selection is achieved using a chicane, because of its very low efficiency for off-axis protons.
The proposed schemes have all been analyzed with 3D simulations and all the significant results are presented. Future experimental work based on the outcome of this thesis can be planned and is being discussed now.
4
Morita, Toshimasa. "Studies on the Proton Acceleration by a Laser Pulse." 京都大学 (Kyoto University), 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/120913.
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Abuazoum, Salima. "Experimental study of laser-driven electron and proton acceleration." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2012. http://oleg.lib.strath.ac.uk:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=18698.
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Zeil, Karl. "Efficient laser-driven proton acceleration in the ultra-short pulse regime." Doctoral thesis, Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2013. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-117484.
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The work described in this thesis is concerned with the experimental investigation of the acceleration of high energy proton pulses generated by relativistic laser-plasma interaction and their application. Using the high intensity 150 TW Ti:sapphire based ultra-short pulse laser Draco, a laser-driven proton source was set up and characterized. Conducting experiments on the basis of the established target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) process, proton energies of up to 20 MeV were obtained. The reliable performance of the proton source was demonstrated in the first direct and dose controlled comparison of the radiobiological effectiveness of intense proton pulses with that of conventionally generated continuous proton beams for the irradiation of in vitro tumour cells. As potential application radiation therapy calls for proton energies exceeding 200 MeV. Therefore the scaling of the maximum proton energy with laser power was investigated and observed to be near-linear for the case of ultra-short laser pulses. This result is attributed to the efficient predominantly quasi-static acceleration in the short acceleration period close to the target rear surface. This assumption is furthermore confirmed by the observation of prominent non-target-normal emission of energetic protons reflecting an asymmetry in the field distribution of promptly accelerated electrons generated by using oblique laser incidence or angularly chirped laser pulses. Supported by numerical simulations, this novel diagnostic reveals the relevance of the initial prethermal phase of the acceleration process preceding the thermal plasma sheath expansion of TNSA. During the plasma expansion phase, the efficiency of the proton acceleration can be improved using so called reduced mass targets (RMT). By confining the lateral target size which avoids the dilution of the expanding sheath and thus increases the strength of the accelerating sheath fields a significant increase of the proton energy and the proton yield was observed.
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Kluge, Thomas. "Enhanced Laser Ion Acceleration from Solids." Doctoral thesis, Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2013. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-102681.
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This thesis presents results on the theoretical description of ion acceleration using ultra-short ultra-intense laser pulses. It consists of two parts. One deals with the very general and underlying description and theoretic modeling of the laser interaction with the plasma, the other part presents three approaches of optimizing the ion acceleration by target geometry improvements using the results of the first part. In the first part, a novel approach of modeling the electron average energy of an over-critical plasma that is irradiated by a few tens of femtoseconds laser pulse with relativistic intensity is introduced.
The first step is the derivation of a general expression of the distribution of accelerated electrons in the laboratory time frame. As is shown, the distribution is homogeneous in the proper time of the accelerated electrons, provided they are at rest and distributed uniformly initially. The average hot electron energy can then be derived in a second step from a weighted average of the single electron energy evolution. This result is applied exemplary for the two important cases of infinite laser contrast and square laser temporal profile, and the case of an experimentally more realistic case of a laser pulse with a temporal profile sufficient to produce a preplasma profile with a scale length of a few hundred nanometers prior to the laser pulse peak. The thus derived electron temperatures are in excellent agreement with recent measurements and simulations, and in particular provide an analytic explanation for the reduced temperatures seen both in experiments and simulations compared to the widely used ponderomotive energy scaling.
The implications of this new electron temperature scaling on the ion acceleration, i.e. the maximum proton energy, are then briefly studied in the frame of an isothermal 1D expansion model. Based on this model, two distinct regions of laser pulse duration are identified with respect to the maximum energy scaling. For short laser pulses, compared to a reference time, the maximum ion energy is found to scale linearly with the laser intensity for a simple flat foil, and the most important other parameter is the laser absorption efficiency. In particular the electron temperature is of minor importance. For long laser pulse durations the maximum ion energy scales only proportional to the square root of the laser peak intensity and the electron temperature has a large impact. Consequently, improvements of the ion acceleration beyond the simple flat foil target maximum energies should focus on the increase of the laser absorption in the first case and the increase of the hot electron temperature in the latter case.
In the second part, exemplary geometric designs are studied by means of simulations and analytic discussions with respect to their capability for an improvement of the laser absorption efficiency and temperature increase. First, a stack of several foils spaced by a few hundred nanometers is proposed and it is shown that the laser energy absorption for short pulses and therefore the maximum proton energy can be significantly increased. Secondly, mass limited targets, i.e. thin foils with a finite lateral extension, are studied with respect to the increase of the hot electron temperature. An analytical model is provided predicting this temperature based on the lateral foil width. Finally, the important case of bent foils with attached flat top is analyzed. This target geometry resembles hollow cone targets with flat top attached to the tip, as were used in a recent experiment producing world record proton energies. The presented analysis explains the observed increase in proton energy with a new electron acceleration mechanism, the direct acceleration of surface confined electrons by the laser light. This mechanism occurs when the laser is aligned tangentially to the curved cone wall and the laser phase co-moves with the energetic electrons. The resulting electron average energy can exceed the energies from normal or oblique laser incidence by several times. Proton energies are therefore also greatly increased and show a theoretical scaling proportional to the laser intensity, even for long laser pulses.
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Flacco, A. "Experimental Study of Proton Acceleration with Ultra-High Intensity, High Contrast Laser Beam." Phd thesis, Ecole Polytechnique X, 2008. http://pastel.archives-ouvertes.fr/pastel-00005616.
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La production de faisceaux énergétiques d'ions/protons avec des impulsions laser à intensités relativistes (I>10^{18}W/cm^2) a reçu, au cours des dernières années, un intérêt croissant parmi les scientifiques travaillant dans les domaines de l'optique, de la physique des plasmas et des accélérateurs. Une fraction des électrons est chauffée à haute température lors de l'interaction entre une impulsion laser femtoseconde et un plasma surdense. Les ions et les protons sont extraits et accélérés par la séparation de charge qui est produite pendant l'expansion du plasma. Les résultats présentés dans ce manuscrit décrivent la réalisation d'expériences d'accélération d'ions avec un système laser à haute puissance et à haut contraste (XPW). Deux expériences préparatoires sont réalisées, afin d'étudier l'interaction entre le piédestal d'une impulsion laser et une cible. L'expansion d'un plasma créé par laser à intensité moyenne est mesurée par interférométrie; l'évolution de la longueur de son gradient de densité est déduite par les cartes de densité électronique, mesurées à différents instants. La variation de la réflectivité absolue d'une cible mince d'aluminium est mise en corrélation avec la température électronique afin de contrôler le débouché du choc produit par le laser. La corrélation entre les deux expériences est finalement utilisée pour définir le conditions optimales pour l'accélération des protons. Des expériences d'accélération de protons avec un laser à haut contraste, la construction et la validation d'un spectromètre (Galette a Micro-canaux et Parabole Thomson), ainsi que des autres détails sur le montage sont présentés. Les résultats ainsi obtenus montrent que l'amélioration du contraste permet d'utiliser des cibles plus minces et de produire des conditions d'interaction plus stables et contrôlables. Des faisceaux des protons ayant énergie cinétique supérieure à 4MeV sont produits, avec une stabilité tir à tir meilleure de 4% rms. L'accélération des protons avec deux impulsions laser confirme que l'absorption d'énergie laser est augmentée dans le cas des cibles pre-chauffées par une impulsion laser avec les bons paramètres.
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Flacco, Alessandro. "Experimental study of proton acceleration with ultra-high intensity, high contrast laser beam." École polytechnique, 2010. http://www.theses.fr/2008EPXX0071.
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La production de faisceaux énergétiques d'ions/protons avec des impulsions laser à intensités relativistes (I>10^{18}W/cm^2) a reçu, au cours des dernières années, un intérêt croissant parmi les scientifiques travaillant dans les domaines de l'optique, de la physique des plasmas et des accélérateurs. Une fraction des électrons est chauffée à haute température lors de l'interaction entre une impulsion laser femtoseconde et un plasma surdense. Les ions et les protons sont extraits et accélérés par la séparation de charge qui est produite pendant l'expansion du plasma. Les résultats présentés dans ce manuscrit décrivent la réalisation d'expériences d'accélération d'ions avec un système laser à haute puissance et à haut contraste (XPW). Deux expériences préparatoires sont réalisées, afin d'étudier l'interaction entre le piédestal d'une impulsion laser et une cible. L'expansion d'un plasma créé par laser à intensité moyenne est mesurée par interférométrie; l'évolution de la longueur de son gradient de densité est déduite par les cartes de densité électronique, mesurées à différents instants. La variation de la réflectivité absolue d'une cible mince d'aluminium est mise en corrélation avec la température électronique afin de contrôler le débouché du choc produit par le laser. La corrélation entre les deux expériences est finalement utilisée pour définir le conditions optimales pour l'accélération des protons. Des expériences d'accélération de protons avec un laser à haut contraste, la construction et la validation d'un spectromètre (Galette a Micro-canaux et Parabole Thomson), ainsi que des autres détails sur le montage sont présentés. Les résultats ainsi obtenus montrent que l'amélioration du contraste permet d'utiliser des cibles plus minces et de produire des conditions d'interaction plus stables et contrôlables. Des faisceaux des protons ayant énergie cinétique supérieure à 4MeV sont produits, avec une stabilité tir à tir meilleure de 4% rms. L'accélération des protons avec deux impulsions laser confirme que l'absorption d'énergie laser est augmentée dans le cas des cibles pre-chauffées par une impulsion laser avec les bons paramètresThe production of energetic proton/ion beams with laser pulses at relativistic intensities (I>10^{18}W/cm^2) has received, in the past few years, increasing interest from the scientific community in plasma, optics and accelerator physics. A fraction of electrons is heated to high temperature during the ultrafast interaction between a femtosecond laser pulse and an overdense plasma. Ions and protons are extracted and accelerated by the charge separation set up during the expansion of the plasma. The results presented in this manuscript report on the realization of ion acceleration experiments using a high contrast (XPW) multi-terawatt laser system. Two preparatory experiments are set up, aiming to study the pedestal of a laser pulse interacting with the target. The expansion of a plasma created by a laser at moderate intensity is measured by interferometry; the evolution of the density gradient length is deduced from the electron density maps at different moments. The variation of the absolute reflectivity of a thin aluminium foil is correlated to the electron temperature and is used to monitor the arrival time of the laser produced shock. The crossing between the two experiments is finally used to define the optimum condition for proton acceleration. Proton acceleration experiments with high contrast laser are reported, including the construction and the validation of a real-time, single shot ion spectrometer (Micro-channel Plate and Thomson Parabola), and other details of the realised setup. The obtained results show that the increased contrast enables the use of thinner targets and the production of more stable and controllable interaction conditions. Proton beams with kinetic energy higher than 4 MeV are produced, with a shot-to-shot stability better than 4% rms. Proton acceleration experiment with two laser beams confirms that the laser energy absorption is enhanced when the target is pre-heated by a laser pulse with proper parameters
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Böker, Jürgen [Verfasser], Oswald [Akademischer Betreuer] Willi, and Carsten [Akademischer Betreuer] Müller. "Laser-Driven Proton Acceleration with Two Ultrashort Laser Pulses / Jürgen Böker. Gutachter: Carsten Müller. Betreuer: Oswald Willi." Düsseldorf : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 2015. http://d-nb.info/1072500612/34.
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Robinson, Alexander Patrick Lowell. "Kinetic simulation of fast electron transport and proton acceleration in ultraintense laser-solid interactions." Thesis, Imperial College London, 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.424440.
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Yu, Tongpu [Verfasser], Alexander [Akademischer Betreuer] Pukhov, and Karl-Heinz [Akademischer Betreuer] Spatschek. "Stable laser-driven proton acceleration in ultra-relativistic laser-plasma interaction / Tongpu Yu. Gutachter: Alexander Pukhov ; Karl-Heinz Spatschek." Düsseldorf : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 2011. http://d-nb.info/101603508X/34.
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Almomani, Ali [Verfasser], Ulrich [Akademischer Betreuer] Ratzinger, and Ingo [Akademischer Betreuer] Hofmann. "RF acceleration of intense laser generated proton bunches / Ali Almomani. Gutachter: Ulrich Ratzinger ; Ingo Hofmann." Frankfurt am Main : Univ.-Bibliothek Frankfurt am Main, 2012. http://d-nb.info/1044093757/34.
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Masood, Umar. "Radiotherapy Beamline Design for Laser-driven Proton Beams." Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf, 2018. https://tud.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A35640.
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Motivation: Radiotherapy is an important modality in cancer treatment commonly using photon beams from compact electron linear accelerators. However, due to the inverse depth dose profile (Bragg peak) with maximum dose deposition at the end of their path, proton beams allow a dose escalation within the target volume and reduction in surrounding normal tissue. Up to 20% of all radiotherapy patients could benefit from proton therapy (PT). Conventional accelerators are utilized to obtain proton beams with therapeutic energies of 70 – 250 MeV. These beams are then transported to the patient via magnetic transferlines and a rotatable beamline, called gantry, which are large and bulky. PT requires huge capex, limiting it to only a few big centres worldwide treating much less than 1% of radiotherapy patients. The new particle acceleration by ultra-intense laser pulses occurs on micrometer scales, potentially enabling more compact PT facilities and increasing their widespread. These laser-accelerated proton (LAP) bunches have been observed recently with energies of up to 90 MeV and scaling models predict LAP with therapeutic energies with the next generation petawatt laser systems. Challenges: Intense pulses with maximum 10 Hz repetition rate, broad energy spectrum, large divergence and short duration characterize LAP beams. In contrast, conventional accelerators generate mono-energetic, narrow, quasi-continuous beams. A new multifunctional gantry is needed for LAP beams with a capture and collimation system to control initial divergence, an energy selection system (ESS) to filter variable energy widths and a large acceptance beam shaping and scanning system. An advanced magnetic technology is also required for a compact and light gantry design. Furthermore, new dose deposition models and treatment planning systems (TPS) are needed for high quality, efficient dose delivery. Materials and Methods: In conventional dose modelling, mono-energetic beams with decreasing energies are superimposed to deliver uniform spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP). The low repetition rate of LAP pulses puts a critical constraint on treatment time and it is highly inefficient to utilize conventional dose models. It is imperative to utilize unique LAP beam properties to reduce total treatment times. A new 1D Broad Energy Assorted depth dose Deposition (BEAD) model was developed. It could deliver similar SOBP by superimposing several LAP pulses with variable broad energy widths. The BEAD model sets the primary criteria for the gantry, i.e. to filter and transport pulses with up to 20 times larger energy widths than conventional beams for efficient dose delivery. Air-core pulsed magnets can reach up to 6 times higher peak magnetic fields than conventional iron-core magnets and the pulsed nature of laser-driven sources allowed their use to reduce the size and weight of the gantry. An isocentric gantry was designed with integrated laser-target assembly, beam capture and collimation, variable ESS and large acceptance achromatic beam transport. An advanced clinical gantry was designed later with a novel active beam shaping and scanning system, called ELPIS. The filtered beam outputs via the advanced gantry simulations were implemented in an advanced 3D TPS, called LAPCERR. A LAP beam gantry and TPS were brought together for the first time, and clinical feasibility was studied for the advanced gantry via tumour conformal dose calculations on real patient data. Furthermore, for realization of pulsed gantry systems, a first pulsed beamline section consisting of prototypes of a capturing solenoid and a sector magnet was designed and tested at tandem accelerator with 10MeV pulsed proton beams. A first air-core pulsed quadrupole was also designed. Results: An advanced gantry with the new ELPIS system was designed and simulated. Simulated results show that achromatic beams with actively selectable beam sizes in the range of 1 – 20 cm diameter with selectable energy widths ranging from 19 – 3% can be delivered via the advanced gantry. ELPIS can also scan these large beams to a 20 × 10 cm2 irradiation field. This gantry is about 2.5 m in height and about 3.5 m in length, which is about 4 times smaller in volume than the conventional PT gantries. The clinical feasibility study on a head and neck tumour patient shows that these filtered beams can deliver state-of-the-art 3D intensity modulated treatment plans.
Experimental characterization of a prototype pulsed beamline section was performed successfully and the synchronization of proton pulse with peak magnetic field in the individual magnets was established. This showed the practical applicability and feasibility of pulsed beamlines. The newly designed pulsed quadrupole with three times higher field gradients than iron-core quadrupoles is already manufactured and will be tested in near future. Conclusion: The main hurdle towards laser-driven PT is a laser accelerator providing beams of therapeutic quality, i.e. energy, intensity, stability, reliability. Nevertheless, the presented advanced clinical gantry design presents a complete beam transport solution for future laser-driven sources and shows the prospect and limitations of a compact laser-driven PT facility. Further development in the LAP-CERR is needed as it has the potential to utilize advanced beam controls from the ELPIS system and optimize doses on the basis of advanced dose schemes, like partial volume irradiation, to bring treatment times further down. To realize the gantry concept, further research, development and testing in higher field and higher (up to 10 Hz) repetition rate pulsed magnets to cater therapeutic proton beams is crucial.
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Becker, Georg [Verfasser], Malte Christoph [Gutachter] Kaluza, Paul [Gutachter] Neumayer, and Matthias [Gutachter] Schnürer. "Characterization of laser-driven proton acceleration with contrast-enhanced laser pulses / Georg Becker ; Gutachter: Malte Christoph Kaluza, Paul Neumayer, Matthias Schnürer." Jena : Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, 2021. http://d-nb.info/123917750X/34.
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Gao, Ying [Verfasser], and Jörg [Akademischer Betreuer] Schreiber. "High repetition rate laser driven proton source and a new method of enhancing acceleration / Ying Gao ; Betreuer: Jörg Schreiber." München : Universitätsbibliothek der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 2020. http://d-nb.info/1214180353/34.
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Pommarel, Loann. "Transport and control of a laser-accelerated proton beam for application to radiobiology." Thesis, Université Paris-Saclay (ComUE), 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017SACLX001/document.
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L’accélération de particules par interaction laser-plasma est une alternative prometteuse aux accélérateurs conventionnels qui permettrait de rendre plus compactes les machines du futur dédiées à la protonthérapie. Des champs électriques extrêmes de l’ordre du TV/m sont créés en focalisant une impulsion laser ultra-intense sur une cible solide mince de quelques micromètres d’épaisseur, ce qui produit un faisceau de particules de haute énergie. Ce dernier contient des protons ayant une énergie allant jusqu’à la dizaine de mégaélectron-volts, et est caractérisé par une forte divergence angulaire et un spectre en énergie très étendu.Le but de cette thèse est de caractériser parfaitement un accélérateur laser-plasma afin de produire un faisceau de protons stable, satisfaisant les critères d'énergie, de charge et d'homogénéité de surface requis pour son utilisation en radiobiologie. La conception, la réalisation et l’implémentation d’un système magnétique, constitué d'aimants permanents quadripolaires ont été optimisés au préalable avec des simulations numériques. Ce système permet d’obtenir un faisceau de protons ayant un spectre en énergie qui à été mise en forme, et dont le profil est uniforme sur une surface de taille adaptée aux échantillons biologiques.Une dosimétrie absolue et en ligne a également été établie, permettant le contrôle de la dose délivrée en sortie. Pour cela, une chambre d'ionisation à transmission, précédemment calibrée sur un accélérateur à usage médical de type cyclotron, a été mise en place sur le trajet du faisceau de protons. Des simulations Monte Carlo ont ensuite permis de calculer la dose déposée dans les échantillons. Ce système compact autorise maintenant de définir un protocole expérimental rigoureux pour la poursuite d’expériences in vitro de radiobiologie. De premières irradiations de cellules cancéreuses ont été ainsi réalisées in vitro, ouvrant la voie à l’exploration des effets de rayonnements ionisants pulsés à haut débit de dose sur les cellules vivantesParticle acceleration by laser-plasma interaction is a promising alternative to conventional accelerators that could make future devices dedicated to protontherapy more compact. Extreme electric fields in the order of TV/m are created when an ultra-intense laser pulse is focused on a thin solid target with a thickness of a few micrometers, which generates a beam of highly energetic particles. The latter includes protons with energies up to about ten megaelectron-volts and characterised by a wide angular divergence and a broad energy spectrum.The goal of this thesis is to fully characterise a laser-based accelerator in order to produce a stable proton beam meeting the energy, charge and surface homogeneity requirements for radiobiological experiments. The design, realisation and implementation of a magnetic system made of permanent magnet quadrupoles were optimised beforehand through numerical simulations. It enables to obtain a beam with a shaped energy spectrum and with a uniform profile over a surface with a size adapted to the biological samples.Deferred and online dosimetry was setup to monitor the delivered output dose. For that purpose, a transmission ionisation chamber, previously calibrated absolutely on a medical proton accelerator, was used. Monte Carlo simulations enabled to compute the dose deposited into the samples. This compact system allows now to define a rigorous experimental protocol for in vitro radiobiological experiments. First experiments of cancer cell irradiation have been carried out, paving the way for the exploration of the effects of pulsed ionizing radiations at extremely high dose rates on living cells
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Zeil, Karl [Verfasser], Roland [Akademischer Betreuer] Sauerbrey, and Jörg [Akademischer Betreuer] Schreiber. "Efficient laser-driven proton acceleration in the ultra-short pulse regime / Karl Zeil. Gutachter: Roland Sauerbrey ; Jörg Schreiber. Betreuer: Roland Sauerbrey." Dresden : Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2013. http://d-nb.info/1068153164/34.
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PEREGO, CLAUDIO. "Target normal sheath acceleration for laser-driven ion generation: advances in theoretical modeling." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10281/41758.
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Recently, ultra-intense laser-driven ion acceleration has turned out to be an extremely interesting phenomenon, capable to produce ion beams which could potentially be suitable for applications as hadron therapy or dense matter diagnostics.
The present PhD thesis is addressed to the study of Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA), namely the laser-based ion acceleration mechanism which dominates the presently accessible experimental conditions. The work is focused in particular on the theoretical modeling of TNSA, motivated by the need for an effective description which, by adopting proper approximations that can limit the required computational efforts, is capable to provide reliable predictions on the resulting ion beam features, given an initial laser-target configuration.
Indeed, the development of a robust TNSA theoretical model would mean a deeper comprehension of the key physical factors governing the process, allowing at the same time to draw guidelines for potential experiments in the next future.
In this dissertation, in order to achieve a significant advancement in the TNSA modeling field, the results of two original works are reported, the first is focused on a critical, quantitative analysis of existing descriptions, and the second, starting from the conclusions of such an analysis, is dedicated to the extension of a specific model, aiming at the inclusion of further, crucial, TNSA aspects.
The quantitative analysis consists in the comparison of six well-known published descriptions, relying on their capability in estimating the maximum ion energy, which is tested over an extensive database of published TNSA experimental results, covering a wide range of laser-target conditions. Such a comparative study, despite the technical issues to be faced in order to reduce the arbitrariness of the results, allows to draw some interesting conclusions about the effectiveness of the six models considered and about TNSA effective modeling in general. According to the results, the quasi-static model proposed by M. Passoni and M. Lontano turns out to be the most reliable in predicting the ion cut-off energy, at the same time achieving such estimates through a self-consistent treatment of the accelerating potential.
This work highlights also the limits of such a TNSA model, and of the main approximations usually adopted to obtain the different maximum ion energy estimates. Thus, starting from such considerations, an extension of this Passoni-Lontano model is proposed, including new crucial elements of TNSA physics within the description. In particular, further insights of the hot electron population dynamics are implemented, leading to a refined maximum energy prediction, which exhibits more solid theoretical bases, and which broadens the predicting capability of the original model to a larger range of system parameters.
The resulting estimates are validated by means of literature experimental data and numerical simulations, demonstrating a remarkable agreement in most of the cases. The achieved model turns out to be particularly suitable in reproducing the maximum ion energy dependence on the target thickness, while some promising insights are obtained in the Mass Limited Targets (MLT) case. Nonetheless, further theoretical work is still required to attain a quantitative agreement with recently published experimental results on MLTs.
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Gangolf, Thomas. "Intense laser-plasma interactions with gaseous targets for energy transfer and particle acceleration." Thesis, Université Paris-Saclay (ComUE), 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017SACLX110.
Full textAbstract:
Le plus fréquemment, l’interaction laser-matière est étudiée avec des lasers ayant des longueurs d’onde dans l’infrarouge proche (PIR), car ce sont les lasers qui peuvent générer les impulsions les plus intenses. Pour ces lasers, des cibles de densité allant de 0,05 à 2,5 fois la densité critique sont difficiles à créer mais elles offrent des perspectives intéressantes. Dans cette thèse, des jets d’hydrogène ayant de densité dans ce domaine sont utilisées dans le contexte de deux applications :Premièrement, des ions sont accélérées par choc non-collisionnel (collisionless shock acceleration, CSA). Lors de l’interaction d’une impulsion laser PIR avec une cible légè- rement sur-critique, un faisceau de protons est généré. Il est collimé, dirigé vers l’avant et quasiment monoénergetique. Des simulations indiquent que cela est lié à la formation d’un choc non-collisionnel et à l’accélération des protons par ce choc, en sus de leur accélération par le processus standard dit ”target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA)” qui est effectif en face arrière de la cible. Pour beaucoup d’applications, ces faisceaux de particules quasi-monoénergetiques sont plus appropriés que ceux à spectre large qui sont générés de façon routinière par TNSA.Deuxièmement, de l’énergie est transférée d’une impulsion laser (pump) vers une autre en contrepropagation (seed), par rétrodiffusion Brillouin stimulée, dans le régime de couplage fort (strong coupling-SBS), à des densités entre 0,05 et 0,2 fois la densité critique. Pour des impulsions à large bande (60 nanomètres), le rôle de la pré-ionisation sur la propagation et la rétrodiffusion Brillouin spontanée et stimulée est étudié, en incluant l’influence du chirp. Pour des lasers à bande plus étroite, il est démontré que l’impulsion seed peut être amplifiée par des dizaines de milliJoules, et des signatures d’amplification efficace et d’affaiblissement de l’impulsion laser pompe sont trouvées. Ce concept vise à l’amplification des impulsions laser à des puissances au-delà du seuil de dommage des amplificateurs laser basés sur des matériaux solidesLaser-matter interaction is studied mostly with near-infrared (NIR) lasers as they can generate the most intense pulses. For these lasers, targets between 0.05 to 2.5 times the critical density are challenging to create but offer interesting prospects. In this thesis, novel high-density Hydrogen gas jet targets with densities in this range are used in view of two applications:First, ions are accelerated by collisionless shock acceleration (CSA). Upon interaction of a NIR laser with a slightly overcritical gas jet target, a collimated, quasi-monoenergetic proton beam is generated in forward direction. Simulations indicate the formation of a collisionless shock and acceleration of protons both by the shock and target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) on the target rear surface under these conditions. These directed, monoenergetic particle bunches are more suitable for many applications than the broadband particle beams already generated routinely.Second, at densities between 0.05 and 0.2 times the critical density, energy is transferred from one laser pulse (pump) to a counterpropagating pulse (seed), via Stimulated Brillouin Backscattering in the strongly-coupled regime (sc-SBS). For the case of broad- band (60 nanometers) pulses, the role of the preionization for pulse propagation and both spontaneous and stimulated Brillouin backscattering are studied, including the influence of the chirp. It is shown that for narrower bandwidths, the seed pulse is ampli- fied by tens of millijoules, and signatures of efficient amplification and pump depletion are found. This concept aims at amplifying laser pulses to powers above the damage thresholds of solid state amplifiers
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Richter, Tom. "Entwicklung zweier Spektrometer für laserbeschleunigte Protonenstrahlen." Master's thesis, Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2013. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-124604.
Full textAbstract:
Durch die Fokussierung eines ultrakurzen und hochintensiven Laserpulses auf ein Festkörpertarget können Pulse von Protonen und anderen positiv geladenen Ionen mit Teilchenenergien von einigen MeV pro Nukleon erzeugt werden. Die Charakterisierung dieser Teilchenstrahlung erfordert die Identifizierung der Ionenspezies und die Bestimmung ihrer spektralen Verteilung möglichst nach jedem Puls. Im Rahmen dieser Diplomarbeit wurden zwei Spektrometer entwickelt und am DRACO-Lasersystem des Forschungszentrums Dresden implementiert. Neben der Inbetriebnahme eines Thomson-Spektrometers mit einer Mikrokanalplatte und einem Fluoreszenzschirm als Auslese erfolgte die Entwicklung eines Flugzeitspektrometers. Die Verwendung einer Mikrokanalplatte mit nur 180ps Anstiegszeit als Signalverstärker sorgt darin für eine verbesserte Energieauflösung und einen flexibleren Einsatz im Experimentierbetrieb. Ein dem Flugzeitsignal überlagertes Störsignal, welches durch die Einstreuungen eines elektromagnetischen Impulses in den Aufbau verursacht wurde, konnte erfolgreich durch die Anwendung verschiedener Filter unterdrückt werden. Als Ergebnis dieser Arbeit steht eine anwendungsbereite Diagnostik für laserbeschleunigte Protonen und Ionen zur VerfügungBy focusing an ultra-short high-intensity laser pulse on a solid target, pulses of protons and other positive charged ions with energies of several MeV per nucleon are generated. It is necessary to identify the species of those particles and obtain their energy spectra in a single-shot regime. Within this diploma thesis two spectrometers have been developed and implemented in the DRACO-laboratory of the Forschungszentrum Dresden. Besides a Thomson spectrometer with read-out via microchannel plate and phosphor screen, a time-of-flight spectrometer was developed. The usage of a microchannel plate with 180ps rise time as a signal amplifier leads therein to a better energy resolution and a more flexible handling in experimental operation. A noise signal generated by stray pick-up of an electromagnetic pulse and superimposing the time-of-flight signal was considerably reduced by the application of different filters. As a result of this work a ready-to-use diagnostic for laser accelerated protons and ions is available
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Jahn, Diana [Verfasser], Markus [Akademischer Betreuer] Roth, and Oliver [Akademischer Betreuer] Boine-Frankenheim. "Achieving highest proton intensities with a laser-based ion beamline / Diana Jahn ; Markus Roth, Oliver Boine-Frankenheim." Darmstadt : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt, 2019. http://d-nb.info/1200099567/34.
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Jahn, Diana [Verfasser], Markus Akademischer Betreuer] Roth, and Oliver [Akademischer Betreuer] [Boine-Frankenheim. "Achieving highest proton intensities with a laser-based ion beamline / Diana Jahn ; Markus Roth, Oliver Boine-Frankenheim." Darmstadt : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt, 2019. http://d-nb.info/1200099567/34.
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Beaurepaire, Benoit. "Développement d’un accélérateur laser-plasma à haut taux de répétition pour des applications à la diffraction ultra-rapide d’électrons." Thesis, Université Paris-Saclay (ComUE), 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016SACLX013/document.
Full textAbstract:
La microscopie électronique et la diffraction d’électrons ont permis de comprendre l’organisation des atomes au sein de la matière. En utilisant une source courte temporellement, il devient possible de mesurer les déplacements atomiques ou les modifications de la distribution électronique dans des matériaux. A ce jour, les sources ultra-brèves pour les expériences de diffraction d’électrons ne permettent pas d’atteindre une résolution temporelle inférieure à la centaine de femtosecondes (fs). Les accélérateurs laser-plasma sont de bons candidats pour atteindre une résolution temporelle de l’ordre de la femtoseconde. De plus, ces accélérateurs peuvent fonctionner à haut taux de répétition, permettant d’accumuler un grand nombre de données.Dans cette thèse, un accélérateur laser-plasma fonctionnant au kHz a été développé et construit. Cette source accélère des électrons à une énergie de 100 keV environ à partir d’impulsions laser d’énergie 3 mJ et de durée 25 fs. La physique de l’accélération a été étudiée, démontrant entre autres l’effet du front d’onde laser sur la distribution transverse des électrons.Les premières expériences de diffraction avec ce type de sources ont été réalisées. Une expérience de preuve de principe a montré que la qualité de la source est suffisante pour obtenir de belles images de diffraction sur des feuilles d’or et de silicium. Dans un second temps, la dynamique structurelle d’un échantillon de Silicium a été étudiée avec une résolution temporelle de quelques picosecondes, démontrant le potentiel de ce type de sources.Pour augmenter la résolution temporelle à sub-10 fs, il est nécessaire d’accélérer les électrons à des énergies relativistes de quelques MeV. Une étude numérique a montré que l’on peut accélérer des paquets d’électrons ultra-courts grâce à des impulsions laser de 5 mJ et 5 fs. Il serait alors possible d’atteindre une résolution temporelle de l’ordre de la femtoseconde. Finalement, une expérience de post-compression des impulsions laser due à l’ionisation d’un gaz a été réalisée. La durée du laser a pu être réduite d’un facteur deux, et l’homogénéité de ce processus a été étudiée expérimentalement et numériquementElectronic microscopy and electron diffraction allowed the understanding of the organization of atoms in matter. Using a temporally short source, one can measure atomic displacements or modifications of the electronic distribution in matter. To date, the best temporal resolution for time resolved diffraction experiments is of the order of a hundred femtoseconds (fs). Laser-plasma accelerators are good candidates to reach the femtosecond temporal resolution in electron diffraction experiments. Moreover, these accelerators can operate at a high repetition rate, allowing the accumulation of a large amount of data.In this thesis, a laser-plasma accelerator operating at the kHz repetition rate was developed and built. This source generate electron bunches at 100 keV from 3 mJ and 25 fs laser pulses. The physics of the acceleration has been studied, and the effect of the laser wavefront on the electron transverse distribution has been demonstrated.The first electron diffraction experiments with such a source have been realized. An experiment, which was a proof of concept, showed that the quality of the source permits to record nice diffraction patterns on gold and silicium foils. In a second experiment, the structural dynamics of a silicium sample has been studied with a temporal resolution of the order of a few picoseconds.The electron bunches must be accelerated to relativistic energies, at a few MeV, to reach a sub-10 fs temporal resolution. A numerical study showed that ultra-short electron bunches can be accelerated using 5 fs and 5 mJ laser pulses. A temporal resolution of the order of the femtosecond could be reached using such bunches for electron diffraction experiments. Finally, an experiment of the ionization-induced compression of the laser pulses has been realized. The pulse duration was shorten by a factor of 2, and the homogeneity of the process has been studied experimentally and numerically
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Allen, M. "Ion Acceleration from the Interaction of Ultra-Intense Lasers with Solid Foils." Washington, D.C : Oak Ridge, Tenn. : United States. Dept. of Energy ; distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy, 2004. http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/15011790-SSm9hY/native/.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph.D.); Submitted to the Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (US); 24 Nov 2004.Published through the Information Bridge: DOE Scientific and Technical Information. "UCRL-TH-208645" Allen, M. 11/24/2004. Report is also available in paper and microfiche from NTIS.
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Kiefer, Thomas [Verfasser], Malte C. [Akademischer Betreuer] Kaluza, Stefan [Akademischer Betreuer] Skupin, Patrick [Akademischer Betreuer] Mora, and Vladimir T. [Akademischer Betreuer] Tikhonchuk. "Investigation of the laser-based Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) process for high-energy ions : an analytical and numerical study / Thomas Kiefer. Gutachter: Malte C. Kaluza ; Stefan Skupin ; Patrick Mora ; Vladimir T. Tikhonchuk." Jena : Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Jena, 2014. http://d-nb.info/1050977742/34.
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Popov, Konstantin. "Laser based acceleration of charged particles." Phd thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10048/791.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alberta, 2009.Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on Jan. 5, 2010). "A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Physics, Department of Physics, University of Alberta." Includes bibliographical references.
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Kluge, Thomas. "Enhanced Laser Ion Acceleration from Solids." Doctoral thesis, 2012. https://tud.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A26382.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis presents results on the theoretical description of ion acceleration using ultra-short ultra-intense laser pulses. It consists of two parts. One deals with the very general and underlying description and theoretic modeling of the laser interaction with the plasma, the other part presents three approaches of optimizing the ion acceleration by target geometry improvements using the results of the first part. In the first part, a novel approach of modeling the electron average energy of an over-critical plasma that is irradiated by a few tens of femtoseconds laser pulse with relativistic intensity is introduced.
The first step is the derivation of a general expression of the distribution of accelerated electrons in the laboratory time frame. As is shown, the distribution is homogeneous in the proper time of the accelerated electrons, provided they are at rest and distributed uniformly initially. The average hot electron energy can then be derived in a second step from a weighted average of the single electron energy evolution. This result is applied exemplary for the two important cases of infinite laser contrast and square laser temporal profile, and the case of an experimentally more realistic case of a laser pulse with a temporal profile sufficient to produce a preplasma profile with a scale length of a few hundred nanometers prior to the laser pulse peak. The thus derived electron temperatures are in excellent agreement with recent measurements and simulations, and in particular provide an analytic explanation for the reduced temperatures seen both in experiments and simulations compared to the widely used ponderomotive energy scaling.
The implications of this new electron temperature scaling on the ion acceleration, i.e. the maximum proton energy, are then briefly studied in the frame of an isothermal 1D expansion model. Based on this model, two distinct regions of laser pulse duration are identified with respect to the maximum energy scaling. For short laser pulses, compared to a reference time, the maximum ion energy is found to scale linearly with the laser intensity for a simple flat foil, and the most important other parameter is the laser absorption efficiency. In particular the electron temperature is of minor importance. For long laser pulse durations the maximum ion energy scales only proportional to the square root of the laser peak intensity and the electron temperature has a large impact. Consequently, improvements of the ion acceleration beyond the simple flat foil target maximum energies should focus on the increase of the laser absorption in the first case and the increase of the hot electron temperature in the latter case.
In the second part, exemplary geometric designs are studied by means of simulations and analytic discussions with respect to their capability for an improvement of the laser absorption efficiency and temperature increase. First, a stack of several foils spaced by a few hundred nanometers is proposed and it is shown that the laser energy absorption for short pulses and therefore the maximum proton energy can be significantly increased. Secondly, mass limited targets, i.e. thin foils with a finite lateral extension, are studied with respect to the increase of the hot electron temperature. An analytical model is provided predicting this temperature based on the lateral foil width. Finally, the important case of bent foils with attached flat top is analyzed. This target geometry resembles hollow cone targets with flat top attached to the tip, as were used in a recent experiment producing world record proton energies. The presented analysis explains the observed increase in proton energy with a new electron acceleration mechanism, the direct acceleration of surface confined electrons by the laser light. This mechanism occurs when the laser is aligned tangentially to the curved cone wall and the laser phase co-moves with the energetic electrons. The resulting electron average energy can exceed the energies from normal or oblique laser incidence by several times. Proton energies are therefore also greatly increased and show a theoretical scaling proportional to the laser intensity, even for long laser pulses.
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Kuk, Donghoon. "Experimental studies of laser driven proton acceleration from ultrashort and highly intense laser pulse interaction with overdense plasma." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/28479.
Full textAbstract:
The generation of high current multi-MeV protons and ions by irradiation of short pulse high intense laser on an ultra-thin target has been observed and subjected great interest in recent. When ultra-thin overdense target is irradiated by focused ultraintense laser pulse, hot electrons are generated by various mechanisms and they generate energetic ion beams. In TNSA, a quasi-electrostatic field is produced on the target rear surface when the the laser pulse interacts with overdense target, driving hot electrons go torward the target rear surface. However, this mechanism results in a range of field gradients leading to a broad proton energy distribution typically. To overcome the issue, an alternative accelration mechanism has been presented to achieve the quasi-monoenergetic proton acceleration and the mechanism is called Radiation Pressure Acceleration. In the RPA, the radiation pressure push electrons into the target smoothly and setting up an electrostatic field by the laser pressure. In this thesis, we study two alternative experimental methods for the quasi-monoenergetic proton acceleration and find experimental feasibility of the presented methods from other research groups.text
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Kuk, Donghoon. "Proton acceleration experiment by high intensity laser pulse interaction with solid density target at the Texas Petawatt Laser Facility." Thesis, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2011-12-4656.
Full textAbstract:
In recent, high intensity laser pulse interaction with solid density matter has been studied in several laboratory and facilities. Multi-MeV proton and ion beams from plasma produced by this interaction is one important application research area of HEDP. In this thesis, the basic theory of hot electron generation associated with proton acceleration will be introduced. A basic proton acceleration mechanism called TNSA will be introduced with supplemental free plasma expansion model. To investigate proton acceleration at the Texas Petawatt Facility, the experimental set up and target alignmen will be introduced in the chapter 5. While the analysis of data acquired from this experiment is still unfinished, a brief result with RCF image will be introduced in chapter 6.text
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Jahn, Diana. "Achieving highest proton intensities with a laser-based ion beamline." Phd thesis, 2019. https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/9275/1/2.0.pdf.
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This thesis reports on a test beamline which combines laser-driven ion sources with conventional accelerator elements realized at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH.
The Petawatt High-Energy Laser for Heavy Ion EXperiments (PHELIX) drove a Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) source which delivered an exponentially decaying proton spectrum up to ≈ 21.5 MeV. In the next step, the generated proton beam is collimated by a pulsed high-field solenoid, which selected a specific energy range. Through this setting, the central energy was defined, which was transported through the
whole beamline. In this thesis, the aim was a central energy value of E0 = 8 MeV and
solenoid magnetic field strength of 6.5 T. Proton numbers of the order of 10^9 were measured in an energy interval of (8.5 ± 0.25) MeV.
Afterwards, the collimated proton bunch entered a radiofrequency (rf) cavity operated at 108.4 MHz. Inside this element, the particle bunch was compressed in longitudinal phase space around its central energy by a certain angle. At an rf power of 6.26 V, the proton bunch was temporally focused to a bunch duration of (458 ± 40) ps at full width at half maximum (FWHM) in 6 m distance from the source. The measurement was performed with a specially developed diamond membrane detector, which had a time resolution of (113 ± 11) ps (FWHM). Finally, a second pulsed high-field solenoid was built-in as a final focusing system. In consequence, the beam was focused down to a focal spot size of 1.1 mm x 1.2 mm at FWHM.
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FILIPPI, FRANCESCO. "Plasma source characterization for plasma-based acceleration experiments." Doctoral thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11573/1102637.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis shows the characterization of the plasma sources needed for the plasma-based experiments of SPARC_LAB. During this thesis work, I have studied and implemented the tools needed to measure the plasma density into both gas-filled and laser trigger ablative capillaries. The diagnostic system, based on the analysis of the Stark broadening of the emitted spectral lines, allowed to measure in a single shot the evolution of the plasma density variation along the entire capillary length in steps of 100 ns. As far as we know, this is the first single-shot, longitudinally-resolved measurement based on the Stark broadening analysis to measure low density plasma evolution (10^17 cm^-3) in a capillary discharge. By knowing the temporal evolution of the plasma density, it is possible to chose the correct working point for the accelerator and to check its stability and reliability. Moreover, the versatility of the system allows to verify online the proper functioning of the acceleration process, monitoring the variation of plasma density distribution along the acceleration path. This system has been implemented in the SPARC bunker and it has been used to characterize hydrogen filled capillary discharge. To complete the characterization of these capillaries, the discharge current profile has been characterized. The same diagnostic tool has been used to study how to proper engineering of the longitudinal plasma density can be performed with 3D printed laser trigger ablative capillaries whose prototyping cost is negligible, thanks to relatively fast manufacturing processes and their cheap materials. This investigation leads to measure the effect of the tapering of the capillary on the plasma density distribution along the whole capillary length. Tailoring the density from the beginning to the end of the interaction let to preserve the beam quality after the acceleration, but also it ensures the matching between the beams and the plasma. Finally, I implemented a Mach-Zehnder interferometer to detect the plasma density along the propagation length of a laser pulse in a gas-jet for self injection LWFA experiments performed at SPARC_LAB.
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Richter, Tom. "Entwicklung zweier Spektrometer für laserbeschleunigte Protonenstrahlen." Master's thesis, 2009. https://tud.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A27197.
Full textAbstract:
Durch die Fokussierung eines ultrakurzen und hochintensiven Laserpulses auf ein Festkörpertarget können Pulse von Protonen und anderen positiv geladenen Ionen mit Teilchenenergien von einigen MeV pro Nukleon erzeugt werden. Die Charakterisierung dieser Teilchenstrahlung erfordert die Identifizierung der Ionenspezies und die Bestimmung ihrer spektralen Verteilung möglichst nach jedem Puls.
Im Rahmen dieser Diplomarbeit wurden zwei Spektrometer entwickelt und am DRACO-Lasersystem des Forschungszentrums Dresden implementiert. Neben der Inbetriebnahme eines Thomson-Spektrometers mit einer Mikrokanalplatte und einem Fluoreszenzschirm als Auslese erfolgte die Entwicklung eines Flugzeitspektrometers. Die Verwendung einer Mikrokanalplatte mit nur 180ps Anstiegszeit als Signalverstärker sorgt darin für eine verbesserte Energieauflösung und einen flexibleren Einsatz im Experimentierbetrieb. Ein dem Flugzeitsignal überlagertes Störsignal, welches durch die Einstreuungen eines elektromagnetischen Impulses in den Aufbau verursacht wurde, konnte erfolgreich durch die Anwendung verschiedener Filter unterdrückt werden.
Als Ergebnis dieser Arbeit steht eine anwendungsbereite Diagnostik für laserbeschleunigte Protonen und Ionen zur Verfügung.By focusing an ultra-short high-intensity laser pulse on a solid target, pulses of protons and other positive charged ions with energies of several MeV per nucleon are generated. It is necessary to identify the species of those particles and obtain their energy spectra in a single-shot regime. Within this diploma thesis two spectrometers have been developed and implemented in the DRACO-laboratory of the Forschungszentrum Dresden. Besides a Thomson spectrometer with read-out via microchannel plate and phosphor screen, a time-of-flight spectrometer was developed. The usage of a microchannel plate with 180ps rise time as a signal amplifier leads therein to a better energy resolution and a more flexible handling in experimental operation. A noise signal generated by stray pick-up of an electromagnetic pulse and superimposing the time-of-flight signal was considerably reduced by the application of different filters. As a result of this work a ready-to-use diagnostic for laser accelerated protons and ions is available.
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Dong, Peng. "Laboratory visualization of laser-driven plasma accelerators in the bubble regime." Thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2010-08-1881.
Full textAbstract:
Accurate single-shot visualization of laser wakefield structures can improve our fundamental understanding of plasma-based accelerators. Previously, frequency domain holography (FDH) was used to visualize weakly nonlinear sinusoidal wakes in plasmas of density n[subscript e] < 0.6 × 10¹⁹/cm³ that produced few or no relativistic electrons. Here, I address the more challenging task of visualizing highly nonlinear wakes in plasmas of density n[subscript e] ~ 1 to 3× 10¹⁹/cm³ that can produce high-quality relativistic electron beams. Nonlinear wakes were driven by 30 TW, 30 fs, 800 nm pump pulses. When bubbles formed, part of a 400 nm, co-propagating, overlapping probe pulse became trapped inside them, creating a light packet of plasma wavelength dimensions--that is, an optical "bullet"--that I reconstruct by FDH methods. As ne increased, the bullets first appeared at 0.8 × 10¹⁹/cm³, the first observation of bubble formation below the electron capture threshold. WAKE simulations confirmed bubble formation without electron capture and the trapping of optical bullets at this density. At n[subscript] >1× 10¹⁹/cm³, bullets appeared with high shot-to-shot stability together with quasi-monoenergetic relativistic electrons. I also directly observed the temporal walk-off of the optical bullet from the beam-loaded plasma bubble revealed by FDH phase shift data, providing unprecedented visualization of the electron injection and beam loading processes. There are five chapters in this thesis. Chapter 1 introduces general laser plasma- based accelerators (LPA). Chapter 2 discusses the FDH imaging technique, including the setup and reconstruction process. In 2006, Dr. N. H. Matlis used FDH to image a linear plasma wakefield. His work is also presented in Chapter 2 but with new analyses. Chapter 3, the main part of the thesis, discusses the visualization of LPAs in the bubble regime. Chapter 4 presents the concept of frequency domain tomography. Chapter 5 suggests future directions for research in FDH.text