A compact broadband ion beam focusing device based on laser-driven megagauss thermoelectric magnetic fields.
Ultra-intense lasers can nowadays routinely accelerate kiloampere ion beams. These unique sources of particle beams could impact many societal (e.g., proton-therapy or fuel recycling) and fundamental (e.g., neutron probing) domains. However, this requires overcoming the beam angular divergence at the source. This has been attempted, either with large-scale conventional setups or with compact plasma techniques that however have the restriction of short (<1 mm) focusing distances or a chromatic behavior. Here, we show that exploiting laser-triggered, long-lasting (>50 ps), thermoelectric multi-megagauss surface magnetic (B)-fields, compact capturing, and focusing of a diverging laser-driven multi-MeV ion beam can be achieved over a wide range of ion energies in the limit of a 5° acceptance angle.
LULI, École Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, UPMC, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
B
B
Albertazzi
CELIA, Universite de Bordeaux, Talence 33405, France.
E
E
d'Humières
Dipartimento SBAI, Universita di Roma "La Sapienza," Via A. Scarpa 16, 00161 Roma, Italy.
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L
Lancia
LULI, École Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, UPMC, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
V
V
Dervieux
Dipartimento SBAI, Universita di Roma "La Sapienza," Via A. Scarpa 16, 00161 Roma, Italy.
P
P
Antici
Institut für Laser- und Plasmaphysik, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf D-40225, Germany.
J
J
Böcker
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551, USA.
J
J
Bonlie
CELIA, Universite de Bordeaux, Talence 33405, France.
J
J
Breil
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551, USA.
B
B
Cauble
LULI, École Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, UPMC, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
S N
SN
Chen
CELIA, Universite de Bordeaux, Talence 33405, France.
J L
JL
Feugeas
LULI, École Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, UPMC, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
M
M
Nakatsutsumi
CELIA, Universite de Bordeaux, Talence 33405, France.
P
P
Nicolaï
LULI, École Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, UPMC, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
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L
Romagnani
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551, USA.
R
R
Shepherd
Department of Physics, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA.
Y
Y
Sentoku
Institut für Laser- und Plasmaphysik, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf D-40225, Germany.
M
M
Swantusch
CELIA, Universite de Bordeaux, Talence 33405, France.
V T
VT
Tikhonchuk
School of Physics and Astronomy, The Queen's University, Belfast BT7 INN, United Kingdom.
M
M
Borghesi
Institut für Laser- und Plasmaphysik, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf D-40225, Germany.
O
O
Willi
INRS-EMT, Varennes, Québec J3X 1S2, Canada.
H
H
Pépin
LULI, École Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, UPMC, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
J
J
Fuchs