Towards a novel laser-driven method of exotic nuclei extraction-acceleration for fundamental physics and technology

Nishiuchi, Mamiko*; Sakaki, Hironao*; Esirkepov, T. Zh.*; Nishio, Katsuhisa; Pikuz, T. A.*; Faenov, A. Ya.*; Skobelev, I. Yu.*; Orlandi, R.; Pirozhkov, A. S.*; Sagisaka, Akito*; et al.

Plasma Physics Reports, 42(4), p.327 - 337, 2016/04

https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063780X1604005X

A combination of a petawatt laser and nuclear physics techniques can crucially facilitate the measurement of exotic nuclei properties. With numerical simulations and laser-driven experiments we show prospects for the Laser-driven Exotic Nuclei extraction-acceleration method proposed in [M. Nishiuchi et al., Phys. Plasmas 22, 033107 (2015)]: a femtosecond petawatt laser, irradiating a target bombarded by an external ion beam, extracts from the target and accelerates to few GeV highly charged short-lived heavy exotic nuclei created in the target via nuclear reactions.

The X-ray source; Double-sided relativistic mirror

Esirkepov, T. Zh.; Bulanov, S. V.; Kando, Masaki; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Zhidkov, A.*

JAEA-Conf 2010-002, p.116 - 119, 2010/06

https://doi.org/10.11484/jaea-conf-2010-002

Dependence of the ion energy on the parameters of the laser pulse and target in the radiation-pressure-dominated regime of acceleration

Echkina, E. Yu.*; Inovenkov, I. N.*; Esirkepov, T. Zh.; Pegoraro, F.*; Borghesi, M.*; Bulanov, S. V.

Plasma Physics Reports, 36(1), p.15 - 29, 2010/01

https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063780X10010022

Enhancement of photon number reflected by the relativistic flying mirror

Kando, Masaki; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Kawase, Keigo; Esirkepov, T. Zh.; Fukuda, Yuji; Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; Okada, Hajime; Daito, Izuru; Kameshima, Takashi; Hayashi, Yukio; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 103(23), p.235003_1 - 235003_4, 2009/12

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.235003

Relativistic laser-matter interaction and relativistic laboratory astrophysics

Bulanov, S. V.; Esirkepov, T. Zh.; Habs, D.*; Pegoraro, F.*; Tajima, Toshiki*

European Physical Journal D, 55(2), p.483 - 507, 2009/11

https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2009-00138-1

Electron optical injection with head-on and countercrossing colliding laser pulses

Kotaki, Hideyuki; Daito, Izuru; Kando, Masaki; Hayashi, Yukio; Kawase, Keigo; Kameshima, Takashi*; Fukuda, Yuji; Homma, Takayuki; Ma, J.*; Chen, L. M.*; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 103(19), p.194803_1 - 194803_4, 2009/11

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.194803

Energy increase in multi-MeV ion acceleration in the interaction of a short pulse laser with a cluster-gas target

Fukuda, Yuji; Faenov, A. Ya.; Tampo, Motonobu; Pikuz, T. A.*; Nakamura, Tatsufumi; Kando, Masaki; Hayashi, Yukio; Yogo, Akifumi; Sakaki, Hironao; Kameshima, Takashi*; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 103(16), p.165002_1 - 165002_4, 2009/10

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.165002

A new approach for accelerating ions, based on the use of a cluster-gas target and a compact ultrashort pulse laser, is presented. It is shown that ions with energy 10-20 MeV per nucleon having a small divergence (full angle) of 3.4 are generated, corresponding to an approximately tenfold increase in the ion energies compared to previous experiments using solid targets. It is inferred from a particle-in-cell code simulation that the high energy ions are generated at the rear side of the target due to the formation of a strong dipole vortex structure in near-critical density plasmas.

Observation of UV harmonics from a thin-foil target in the high-intensity laser-driven proton generation

Sagisaka, Akito; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Ma, J.-L.; Mori, Michiaki; Yogo, Akifumi; Ogura, Koichi; Orimo, Satoshi; Nishiuchi, Mamiko; Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; Kanazawa, Shuhei; et al.

Journal of Plasma and Fusion Research SERIES, Vol.8, p.464 - 467, 2009/09

http://www.jspf.or.jp/JPFRS/PDF/Vol8/jpfrs2009_08-0464.pdf

We measure the UV harmonics from a thin-foil target by changing the laser pulse duration in the high-energy proton generation. The maximum proton energies are around 1 MeV. In the case of the 500 fs, the peaks of UV harmonics up to fourth-order clearly appear. The spectra are broadened and shifted at the pulse durations of 100 fs and 30 fs.

Ion acceleration in the interaction of short pulse laser radiation with the cluster-gas target

Fukuda, Yuji; Faenov, A. Ya.; Tampo, Motonobu; Pikuz, T. A.*; Nakamura, Tatsufumi; Kando, Masaki; Hayashi, Yukio; Yogo, Akifumi; Sakaki, Hironao; Kameshima, Takashi; et al.

AIP Conference Proceedings 1153, p.85 - 93, 2009/07

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3204561

When the target consists of solid-density clusters embedded in the background gas, its irradiation by high intensity laser light renders ion acceleration a truly unique property. We present that the cluster-gas target, which consists of submicron-sized clusters and background gases, irradiated by a few TW laser pulse produces high energy ions upward of the order of 10-20 MeV/n in the forward direction.

Effects of the laser pulse irradiation point on a double layer target on the accelerated ion beam parameters

Morita, Toshimasa; Bulanov, S. V.; Esirkepov, T. Zh.; Koga, J. K.; Yamagiwa, Mitsuru

AIP Conference Proceedings 1153, p.103 - 112, 2009/07

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3204513

In proton acceleration by a laser pulse obliquely incident on a double layer target, it is shown by PIC simulations that the energy spread of the generated protons can be reduced by irradiating the laser pulse on to the off-center position of the target. This provides a way to control the proton energy spectrum. The high energy protons are found to come from an area shifted from the initial target center towards the propagation direction of the laser pulse. We show that the high energy protons with much smaller energy spread can be obtained by appropriately adjusting the size and position of the second proton layer.