Proton Acceleration Experiment by High Intensity Laser Pulse Interaction with Solid Density Target at the Texas Petawatt Laser Facility - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Proton Acceleration Experiment by High Intensity Laser Pulse Interaction with Solid Density Target at the Texas Petawatt Laser Facility write by Donghoon Kuk. This book was released on 2011. Proton Acceleration Experiment by High Intensity Laser Pulse Interaction with Solid Density Target at the Texas Petawatt Laser Facility available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. 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.
Enhancement of Proton Acceleration from Focusing Targets
Enhancement of Proton Acceleration from Focusing Targets - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Enhancement of Proton Acceleration from Focusing Targets write by Herbie Lamar Smith. This book was released on 2022. Enhancement of Proton Acceleration from Focusing Targets available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Particle acceleration from laser-plasma interactions has been a vibrant area of research since the discovery of electron and proton beams emitted from high intensity laser-plasma interactions in the 1980s. Since then, a large body of work has developed in pursuit of understanding and controlling the mechanisms that generate these particle beams, as well as the beams themselves. In particular, proton beams have a rich set of applications in the fields of medicine, fusion energy, and fundamental physics that motivates their study. In this thesis, we first discuss the laser technology that has enabled this research. We follow this with detailed information on the design and development of a 100 TW power upgrade to the graduate student-run GHOST laser system for the purposes of conducting repetition-rated laser-plasma experiments. We then outline the physics that drives particle acceleration during the interactions of high intensity lasers and solid targets with a particular focus on target normal sheath acceleration, the most widely studied laser-plasma particle acceleration mechanism. Finally, we describe experiments conducted on the Texas Petawatt Laser system to test an approach to enhance the yield, peak energy, and beam characteristics of proton beams generated by laser-plasma interactions with the use of focusing targets
The Effect of Laser Contrast and Target Thickness on Laser-plasma Interactions at the Texas Petawatt
The Effect of Laser Contrast and Target Thickness on Laser-plasma Interactions at the Texas Petawatt - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Effect of Laser Contrast and Target Thickness on Laser-plasma Interactions at the Texas Petawatt write by Alexander Ross Meadows. This book was released on 2014. The Effect of Laser Contrast and Target Thickness on Laser-plasma Interactions at the Texas Petawatt available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A two-year experimental campaign is described during which diamond-like carbon and plastic targets with thicknesses from 20 nanometers to 15 micrometers were irradiated by the Texas Petawatt Laser. Target composition and thickness were varied to modify the specifics of the laser-matter interaction. Plasma mirrors were selectively implemented to affect the contrast of the laser system and provide additional control of the physical processes under investigation. A number of particle diagnostics were implemented to measure the distribution of laser accelerated ions and electrons. In addition, optical diagnostics were fielded to measure the intensity profile of the laser and measure the density of the target pre-plasma. The results of these experiments suggest that the Texas Petawatt laser pulse has pre-pulse and pedestal features with intensities at least 10−8 of the main pulse. Micronscale targets were able to survive these features and maintain a relatively sharp density gradient until the arrival of the main laser pulse, allowing for ion acceleration. Electron spectra measured in this configuration show an average temperature of 10 MeV, with no v angular dependence out to at least 60 degrees. By contrast, interferometric plasma density measurements and a lack of any observable ion acceleration suggest that nanoscale targets were destroyed well before the main pulse. In this case, the peak of the laser pulse interacted with a cloud of plasma between 10−3 and 10−2 of critical density. The contrast improvement offered by the implementation of plasma mirrors was seen to increase the maximum energy of laser accelerated protons from targets thicker than 1 micrometer. In addition, the plasma mirrors allowed nanoscale targets to survive pre-pulse and pedestal features and support the production of ion beams. Proton spectra show that ions were accelerated to greater maximum energies from nanoscale targets than from more traditional micron-scale targets. This effect can be attributed to a reduction in the target pre-plasma scale length upon the introduction of plasma mirrors. These results indicate that the manipulation of target properties and laser contrast can significantly affect the interaction between an ultrahigh intensity laser and a target.
Relativistically Intense Laser–Microplasma Interactions
Relativistically Intense Laser–Microplasma Interactions - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Relativistically Intense Laser–Microplasma Interactions write by Tobias Ostermayr. This book was released on 2019-07-16. Relativistically Intense Laser–Microplasma Interactions available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. This dissertation covers several important aspects of relativistically intense laser–microplasma interactions and some potential applications. A Paul-trap based target system was developed to provide fully isolated, well defined and well positioned micro-sphere-targets for experiments with focused peta-watt laser pulses. The laser interaction turned such targets into microplasmas, emitting proton beams with kinetic energies exceeding 10 MeV. The proton beam kinetic energy spectrum and spatial distribution were tuned by variation of the acceleration mechanism, reaching from broadly distributed spectra in relatively cold plasma expansions to spectra with relative energy spread as small as 20% in spherical multi-species Coulomb explosions and in directed acceleration processes. Numerical simulations and analytical calculations support these experimental findings and show how microplasmas may be used to engineer laser-driven proton sources. In a second effort, tungsten micro-needle-targets were used at a peta-watt laser to produce few-keV x-rays and 10-MeV-level proton beams simultaneously, both measured to have only few-μm effective source-size. This source was used to demonstrate single-shot simultaneous radiographic imaging with x-rays and protons of biological and technological samples. Finally, the dissertation discusses future perspectives and directions for laser–microplasma interactions including non-spherical target shapes, as well as thoughts on experimental techniques and advanced quantitative image evaluation for the laser driven radiography.
Frontiers in High Energy Density Physics
Frontiers in High Energy Density Physics - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Frontiers in High Energy Density Physics write by National Research Council. This book was released on 2003-05-11. Frontiers in High Energy Density Physics available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Recent scientific and technical advances have made it possible to create matter in the laboratory under conditions relevant to astrophysical systems such as supernovae and black holes. These advances will also benefit inertial confinement fusion research and the nation's nuclear weapon's program. The report describes the major research facilities on which such high energy density conditions can be achieved and lists a number of key scientific questions about high energy density physics that can be addressed by this research. Several recommendations are presented that would facilitate the development of a comprehensive strategy for realizing these research opportunities.
