Focussing Protons from a Kilojoule Laser for Intense Beam Heating using Proximal Target Structures

McGuffey, C.; Kim, J.; Wei, M. S.; Nilson, P. M.; Chen, S. N.; Fuchs, J.; Fitzsimmons, P.; Foord, M. E.; Mariscal, D.; McLean, H. S.; Patel, P. K.; Stephens, R. B.; Beg, F. N.

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-65554-4

Title: Focussing Protons from a Kilojoule Laser for Intense Beam Heating using Proximal Target Structures

Journal Article · Wed Jun 10 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65554-4· OSTI ID:1634308

McGuffey, C. ^[1]; Kim, J. ^[1]; Wei, M. S. ^[2]; Nilson, P. M. ^[3]; Chen, S. N. ^[4]; Fuchs, J. ^[5]; Fitzsimmons, P. ^[2]; Foord, M. E. ^[6]; Mariscal, D. ^[7]; McLean, H. S. ^[6]; Patel, P. K. ^[6]; Stephens, R. B. ^[2]; Beg, F. N. ^[1]

Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States)
General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)
Sorbonne Univ., Palaiseau cedex (France); Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics/Horia Hulubei National Inst. for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest-Magurele (Romania)
Sorbonne Univ., Palaiseau cedex (France)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Proton beams driven by chirped pulse amplified lasers have multi-picosecond duration and can isochorically and volumetrically heat material samples, potentially providing an approach for creating samples of warm dense matter with conditions not present on Earth. Envisioned on a larger scale, they could heat fusion fuel to achieve ignition. We have shown in an experiment that a kilojoule-class, multi-picosecond short pulse laser is particularly effective for heating materials. The proton beam can be focussed via target design to achieve exceptionally high flux, important for the applications mentioned. The laser irradiated spherically curved diamond-like-carbon targets with intensity 4 × 10¹⁸ W/cm², producing proton beams with 3 MeV slope temperature. A Cu witness foil was positioned behind the curved target, and the gap between was either empty or spanned with a structure. With a structured target, the total emission of Cu Kα fluorescence was increased 18 fold and the emission profile was consistent with a tightly focussed beam. Transverse proton radiography probed the target with ps order temporal and 10 μm spatial resolution, revealing the fast-acting focussing electric field. Complementary particle-in-cell simulations show how the structures funnel protons to the tight focus. Here, the beam of protons and neutralizing electrons induce the bright Kα emission observed and heat the Cu to 100 eV.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Science (NA-113)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003876; NA0002034

OSTI ID:: 1634308

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Vol. 10, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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