Laser Acceleration of Ions at a high repetition rate

Submission Type: Poster

Submission Category: Plasma Physics

Yonatan Gershuni, Dolev Roitman, Yanay Danan, Itamar Cohen, Aviad Tsabari and Ishay Pomerantz

The School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel-Aviv University, Israel

Abstract:

Current high intensity laser-solid interaction experiments are performed at very low rates, typically a fraction of a Hz, as each target is brought to the laser’s focus using manual controls. We developed a target manipulation system that enables solid target irradiation at a 10 Hz rate. The setup consists of a computer-controlled target manipulator capable of bringing fresh targets to the focus of the laser at the appropriate rate. The system allows collection of data that incorporates a large number of laser shots at fixed experimental conditions that leads to high overall radiation dose and increased statistics.

We are currently employing the system to accelerate ions to MeV energies by irradiating sub-µm thick gold targets.

I will present the design, preliminary performance results and our future plans.