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High-energy ion beams generated with high efficiency using laser-driven 3D microstructures

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  3. Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Lisbon (Portugal)
  4. Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Laboratory for Laser Energetics
  5. General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
  6. Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Laboratory for Laser Energetics; General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Laser-driven ion acceleration in plasma is being proposed as a source of ion beams with a high peak current that can be useful in many fields of science and medicine. Using this method, high proton energies have been achieved by increasing the laser power and by using ultrathin (≤ 200 nm) foils. However, this approach is limited by survivability of the nanotargets to laser prepulses and by difficulty in controlling the plasma acceleration properties. Here, we introduce a new target platform using two-photon polymerization, 3D laser-printed “clone” microstructures with average densities lower than solid that are relatively insensitive to the laser prepulse. Two types of microstructured targets consisting of either a multilayered log-pile or a stochastic arrangement of one micron diameter wires are used. Both demonstrate a higher energy and higher yield proton acceleration compared to thin solid-density foil targets by the robust target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) mechanism. We find that when such 10–20 μm thick structures are irradiated with a petawatt laser, protons with energies up to 110 MeV and a laser-to-proton conversion efficiency of ~ 10% are obtained. Our work suggests that such microstructures optimized for 60–200 MeV compact proton accelerators are promising for future radiotherapy and other applications.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; SC0010064
OSTI ID:
3016956
Report Number(s):
LLNL--JRNL-2015435
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 15; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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