Observation of monoenergetic protons from a near-critical gas target tailored by a hydrodynamic shock

Y.-H. Chen; M. H. Helle; A. Ting; D. F. Gordon; M. N. Polyanskiy; I. Pogorelsky; M. Babzien; Z. Najmudin

doi:10.1117/12.2182094

14 May 2015 Observation of monoenergetic protons from a near-critical gas target tailored by a hydrodynamic shock

Y.-H. Chen, M. H. Helle, A. Ting, D. F. Gordon, M. N. Polyanskiy, I. Pogorelsky, M. Babzien, Z. Najmudin

Proceedings Volume 9514, Laser Acceleration of Electrons, Protons, and Ions III; and Medical Applications of Laser-Generated Beams of Particles III; 95140C (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2182094
Event: SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics, 2015, Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract

We present our recent experimental results of monoenergetic protons accelerated from the interaction of an intense terawatt CO₂ laser pulse with a near-critical hydrogen gas target, with its density profile tailored by a hydrodynamic shock. A 5-ns Nd:YAG laser pulse is focused onto a piece of stainless steel foil mounted at the front edge of the gas jet nozzle orifice. The ablation launches a spherical shock into the near-critical gas column, which creates a sharp density gradient at the front edge of the target, with ~ 6X local density enhancement up to several times of critical density within ~<100 microns. With such density profile, we have obtained monoenergetic proton beams with good shot-to-shot reproducibility and energies up to 1.2 MeV.

Citation Download Citation

Y.-H. Chen, M. H. Helle, A. Ting, D. F. Gordon, M. N. Polyanskiy, I. Pogorelsky, M. Babzien, and Z. Najmudin "Observation of monoenergetic protons from a near-critical gas target tailored by a hydrodynamic shock", Proc. SPIE 9514, Laser Acceleration of Electrons, Protons, and Ions III; and Medical Applications of Laser-Generated Beams of Particles III, 95140C (14 May 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2182094

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available