Article abstract
Nature Physics 2, 48 - 54 (2006)
doi:10.1038/nphys199
Subject Categories: Plasma physics | Optical physics
Laser-driven proton scaling laws and new paths towards energy increase
J. Fuchs1,2, P. Antici1,2,3,4, E. d'Humières5, E. Lefebvre5, M. Borghesi6, E. Brambrink1, C. A. Cecchetti6, M. Kaluza7, V. Malka8, M. Manclossi8,9, S. Meyroneinc10, P. Mora11, J. Schreiber7, T. Toncian12, H. Pépin3 and P. Audebert1
Abstract
The past few years have seen remarkable progress in the development of laser-based particle accelerators. The ability to produce ultrabright beams of multi-megaelectronvolt protons routinely has many potential uses from engineering to medicine, but for this potential to be realized substantial improvements in the performances of these devices must be made. Here we show that in the laser-driven accelerator that has been demonstrated experimentally to produce the highest energy protons, scaling laws derived from fluid models and supported by numerical simulations can be used to accurately describe the acceleration of proton beams for a large range of laser and target parameters. This enables us to evaluate the laser parameters needed to produce high-energy and high-quality proton beams of interest for radiography of dense objects or proton therapy of deep-seated tumours.
- Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR 7605 CNRS-CEA-École Polytechnique-Université Paris VI, 91128 Palaiseau, France
- Physics Department, MS-220, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
- INRS-ÉMT, 1650 bd. L. Boulet, J3X1S2 Varennes, Québec, Canada
- Dipartimento di Energetica, Università di Roma 'La Sapienza', Via Scarpa 14-16, 00161 Roma, Italy
- Département de Physique Théorique et Appliquée, CEA-DIF, BP 12, 91680 Bruyères-le-Châtel, France
- School of Mathematics and Physics, The Queen's University, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK
- Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, 85748 Garching, Germany
- Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée –ENSTA, UMR 7639, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, 91761 Palaiseau, France
- Dipartimento di Fisica 'G.Occhialini' and INFM, Università di Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milano, Italy
- Centre de Protonthérapie d'Orsay, BP 65, 91402 Orsay, France
- Centre de Physique Théorique, UMR 7644 CNRS-Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France
- Institut für Laser und Plasmaphysik, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
Correspondence to: J. Fuchs1,2 e-mail: julien.fuchs@polytechnique.fr
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Desktop accelerators Going up?Nature Physics News and Views (01 Jan 2006)
Antimatter Abundant positron productionNature Photonics News and Views (01 May 2009)
See all 17 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Cerebral blood flow response in adenosine 2a receptor knockout mice during transient hypoxic hypoxiaJournal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism Original Article
Scaling of proton acceleration driven by petawatt-laser?plasma interactionsNature Physics Article (01 Jan 2007)
See all 52 matches for Research
