Controlled injection and acceleration of electrons in plasma wakefields by colliding laser pulses

In laser-plasma-based accelerators, an intense laser pulse drives a large electric field (the wakefield) which accelerates particles to high energies in distances much shorter than in conventional accelerators. These high acceleration gradients, of a few hundreds of gigavolts per metre, hold the promise of compact high-energy particle accelerators. Recently, several experiments have shown that laser-plasma accelerators can produce high-quality electron beams, with quasi-monoenergetic energy distributions at the 100 MeV level. However, these beams do not have the stability and reproducibility that are required for applications. This is because the mechanism responsible for injecting electrons into the wakefield is based on highly nonlinear phenomena, and is therefore hard to control. Here we demonstrate that the injection and subsequent acceleration of electrons can be controlled by using a second laser pulse. The collision of the two laser pulses provides a pre-acceleration stage which provokes the injection of electrons into the wakefield. The experimental results show that the electron beams obtained in this manner are collimated (5 mrad divergence), monoenergetic (with energy spread <10 per cent), tuneable (between 15 and 250 MeV) and, most importantly, stable. In addition, the experimental observations are compatible with electron bunch durations shorter than 10 fs. We anticipate that this stable and compact electron source will have a strong impact on applications requiring short bunches, such as the femtolysis of water, or high stability, such as radiotherapy with high-energy electrons or radiography for materials science.     

High-quality electron beams from a laser wakefield accelerator using plasma-channel guiding

Laser-driven accelerators, in which particles are accelerated by the electric field of a plasma wave (the wakefield) driven by an intense laser, have demonstrated accelerating electric fields of hundreds of GV m(-1) (refs 1-3). These fields are thousands of times greater than those achievable in conventional radio-frequency accelerators, spurring interest in laser accelerators as compact next-generation sources of energetic electrons and radiation. To date, however, acceleration distances have been severely limited by the lack of a controllable method for extending the propagation distance of the focused laser pulse. The ensuing short acceleration distance results in low-energy beams with 100 per cent electron energy spread, which limits potential applications. Here we demonstrate a laser accelerator that produces electron beams with an energy spread of a few per cent, low emittance and increased energy (more than 10(9) electrons above 80 MeV). Our technique involves the use of a preformed plasma density channel to guide a relativistically intense laser, resulting in a longer propagation distance. The results open the way for compact and tunable high-brightness sources of electrons and radiation.     

A laser-plasma accelerator producing monoenergetic electron beams

Particle accelerators are used in a wide variety of fields, ranging from medicine and biology to high-energy physics. The accelerating fields in conventional accelerators are limited to a few tens of MeV m(-1), owing to material breakdown at the walls of the structure. Thus, the production of energetic particle beams currently requires large-scale accelerators and expensive infrastructures. Laser-plasma accelerators have been proposed as a next generation of compact accelerators because of the huge electric fields they can sustain (>100 GeV m(-1)). However, it has been difficult to use them efficiently for applications because they have produced poor-quality particle beams with large energy spreads, owing to a randomization of electrons in phase space. Here we demonstrate that this randomization can be suppressed and that the quality of the electron beams can be dramatically enhanced. Within a length of 3 mm, the laser drives a plasma bubble that traps and accelerates plasma electrons. The resulting electron beam is extremely collimated and quasi-monoenergetic, with a high charge of 0.5 nC at 170 MeV.     

Laser-plasma acceleration of quasi-monoenergetic protons from microstructured targets

Particle acceleration based on high intensity laser systems (a process known as laser-plasma acceleration) has achieved high quality particle beams that compare favourably with conventional acceleration techniques in terms of emittance, brightness and pulse duration. A long-term difficulty associated with laser-plasma acceleration--the very broad, exponential energy spectrum of the emitted particles--has been overcome recently for electron beams. Here we report analogous results for ions, specifically the production of quasi-monoenergetic proton beams using laser-plasma accelerators. Reliable and reproducible laser-accelerated ion beams were achieved by intense laser irradiation of solid microstructured targets. This proof-of-principle experiment serves to illuminate the role of laser-generated plasmas as feasible particle sources. Scalability studies show that, owing to their compact size and reasonable cost, such table-top laser systems with high repetition rates could contribute to the development of new generations of particle injectors that may be suitable for medical proton therapy.     

Monoenergetic beams of relativistic electrons from intense laser-plasma interactions

High-power lasers that fit into a university-scale laboratory can now reach focused intensities of more than 10(19) W cm(-2) at high repetition rates. Such lasers are capable of producing beams of energetic electrons, protons and gamma-rays. Relativistic electrons are generated through the breaking of large-amplitude relativistic plasma waves created in the wake of the laser pulse as it propagates through a plasma, or through a direct interaction between the laser field and the electrons in the plasma. However, the electron beams produced from previous laser-plasma experiments have a large energy spread, limiting their use for potential applications. Here we report high-resolution energy measurements of the electron beams produced from intense laser-plasma interactions, showing that--under particular plasma conditions--it is possible to generate beams of relativistic electrons with low divergence and a small energy spread (less than three per cent). The monoenergetic features were observed in the electron energy spectrum for plasma densities just above a threshold required for breaking of the plasma wave. These features were observed consistently in the electron spectrum, although the energy of the beam was observed to vary from shot to shot. If the issue of energy reproducibility can be addressed, it should be possible to generate ultrashort monoenergetic electron bunches of tunable energy, holding great promise for the future development of 'table-top' particle accelerators.     

Calculation of depth-dose distribution of intermediate energy heavy-ion beams

Based on the characteristics of the interactions between intermediate energy heavy-ion beam and target matter, a method to calculate the depth-dose distribution of heavy-ion beams with intermediate energy (10 -100 MeV/u) is presented. By comparing high energy beams where projectile fragmentation is overwhelm ing with lowenergies where energy straggling is the sole factor instead, a crescent energy spread with increasing depth and a simple fragmentation assumption were included for the depth-dose calculation of the intermediate energy beam. Rel ative depth-dose curves of carbon and oxygen ion beams with intermediate energie s were computed according to the method here. Comparisons between the calculated relative doses and measurements are shown. The calculated Bragg curves, especially the upstream and downstream Bragg peaks, agree with the measured data. Differences between the two results appear only around the peak regions because of th e limitations of the calculation and experimental conditions, but the calculated curves generally reproduce the measured data within the experimental errors. Th e reasons for the divergences were analyzed carefully and the magnitudes of the deviations are given.     

Plasma devices to guide and collimate a high density of MeV electrons

The development of ultra-intense lasers has facilitated new studies in laboratory astrophysics and high-density nuclear science, including laser fusion. Such research relies on the efficient generation of enormous numbers of high-energy charged particles. For example, laser-matter interactions at petawatt (10(15) W) power levels can create pulses of MeV electrons with current densities as large as 10(12) A cm(-2). However, the divergence of these particle beams usually reduces the current density to a few times 10(6) A cm(-2) at distances of the order of centimetres from the source. The invention of devices that can direct such intense, pulsed energetic beams will revolutionize their applications. Here we report high-conductivity devices consisting of transient plasmas that increase the energy density of MeV electrons generated in laser-matter interactions by more than one order of magnitude. A plasma fibre created on a hollow-cone target guides and collimates electrons in a manner akin to the control of light by an optical fibre and collimator. Such plasma devices hold promise for applications using high energy-density particles and should trigger growth in charged particle optics.     

氢分子离子和质子在碳膜中的能量损失测量

利用高分辨原子碰撞装置,直接测量氢分子离子和质子束流的人射能量、通过碳膜之后的透射能量分布和库仑爆作碎片的能谱。由此确定透射H_2~+及其库仑爆作碎片的能量损失△E_p和△E_M和H~+的能量损失△E_A。质于的能损率测量结果与前人推算结果一致。而H_2~+的质子碎片能损率为H~+的两倍以上.结果表明,在相同核子速度和靶厚度下,△E_r最小,△E_M为△E_A的2—3倍。     

电子加速器X射线发射率的MCNP分析

为满足现代X射线应用和设计电子加速器的靶结构和束流参数的需要,采用MCNP4B程序对2～20MeV能量范围内的电子束入射不同厚度钨靶的X射线发射率进行了系统的模拟计算和研究.结果表明在电子能量小于10MeV时,MCNP4B的结果与NCRP-51报告一致,但在10MeV以上,它们间的差别增大.该文结果对早期NCRP-51报告的结果有重要的改进,对于现代产生X射线的电子加速器靶的设计具有参数作用.     

Mediation of the solar wind termination shock by non-thermal ions

Broad regions on both sides of the solar wind termination shock are populated by high intensities of non-thermal ions and electrons. The pre-shock particles in the solar wind have been measured by the spacecraft Voyager 1 (refs 1-5) and Voyager 2 (refs 3, 6). The post-shock particles in the heliosheath have also been measured by Voyager 1 (refs 3-5). It was not clear, however, what effect these particles might have on the physics of the shock transition until Voyager 2 crossed the shock on 31 August-1 September 2007 (refs 7-9). Unlike Voyager 1, Voyager 2 is making plasma measurements. Data from the plasma and magnetic field instruments on Voyager 2 indicate that non-thermal ion distributions probably have key roles in mediating dynamical processes at the termination shock and in the heliosheath. Here we report that intensities of low-energy ions measured by Voyager 2 produce non-thermal partial ion pressures in the heliosheath that are comparable to (or exceed) both the thermal plasma pressures and the scalar magnetic field pressures. We conclude that these ions are the >0.028 MeV portion of the non-thermal ion distribution that determines the termination shock structure and the acceleration of which extracts a large fraction of bulk-flow kinetic energy from the incident solar wind.     

重离子碰撞中多源理想气体模型与同位旋依赖的量子分子动力学模型在25AMeV/n能量下计算结果的比较

应用多源理想气体模型（MSIG）的蒙特卡罗方法，计算25AMeV能量下，碰撞参数较大时（b=7—10fm），^86Kr-^124Sn碰撞产生的轻碎片的几种分布．将MSIG模型的计算结果与同位旋依赖的量子分子动力学模型（IDQMD）的计算结果进行比较，发现二者得到的模动量分布定性地符合，动量分量分布和方位角分布符合得很好，椭圆流和4阶动量各向异性流对模动量的依赖关系基本符合．     

基于SiC材料的激光加速质子束辐照特性研究

通过辐照核能材料SiC, 表征激光加速质子束连续宽能谱、短脉冲和高瞬态流强的特点。将SiC样品放置在距离靶体4 cm处, 连续进行300发满足指数能谱分布的能量为1~4.5 MeV的激光加速宽能谱连续质子束辐照。表面和截面拉曼光谱显示辐照后的SiC散射峰强度减小, 且拉曼光谱截面测量的整体趋势可以与SRIM模拟的能谱加权后的深度能损分布对应, 从而通过实验对能量连续分布的激光加速质子束进行表征。此外, 实验结果显示, 激光加速质子束的短脉冲特性可在SiC表面产生相当高的瞬时束流密度。这种快速的宽能谱辐照为模拟反应堆中子辐照提供了可能性。     

Energy doubling of 42 GeV electrons in a metre-scale plasma wakefield accelerator

The energy frontier of particle physics is several trillion electron volts, but colliders capable of reaching this regime (such as the Large Hadron Collider and the International Linear Collider) are costly and time-consuming to build; it is therefore important to explore new methods of accelerating particles to high energies. Plasma-based accelerators are particularly attractive because they are capable of producing accelerating fields that are orders of magnitude larger than those used in conventional colliders. In these accelerators, a drive beam (either laser or particle) produces a plasma wave (wakefield) that accelerates charged particles. The ultimate utility of plasma accelerators will depend on sustaining ultrahigh accelerating fields over a substantial length to achieve a significant energy gain. Here we show that an energy gain of more than 42 GeV is achieved in a plasma wakefield accelerator of 85 cm length, driven by a 42 GeV electron beam at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). The results are in excellent agreement with the predictions of three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Most of the beam electrons lose energy to the plasma wave, but some electrons in the back of the same beam pulse are accelerated with a field of approximately 52 GV m(-1). This effectively doubles their energy, producing the energy gain of the 3-km-long SLAC accelerator in less than a metre for a small fraction of the electrons in the injected bunch. This is an important step towards demonstrating the viability of plasma accelerators for high-energy physics applications.     

MBE-GaAs/Si的背散射沟道分析

对 MBE-GaAs/Si 进行离子注入和退火.GaAs 外延层的厚度为0.9-2.0μm.Si离子的注入能量及剂量分别为1.2-2.8MeV,l×10~(14)-7×10~(15).cm~(-2).退火采用红外瞬态退火(850℃,15s)及白光退火(1050℃,8s).背散射沟道分析采用4.2MeV~7Li.实验表明,注入结合退火是改善 GaAs 外延层晶体质量的一种有效方法.注入剂量过大,由于正化学配比遭到破坏,外延生长终止.     

Xe30+在Au下表面退激辐射的Ｘ射线谱

报导了1.0-3.0MeV的Xe₃₀₊离子与1.0MeV的Xe₂₆₊离子入射Au表面发射的X射线谱,考虑到探测器Be窗对射线的非均匀衰减,还原了1.0MeV的Xe₃₀₊离子产生X射线谱。通过用经典过垒模型及两体碰撞模型的分析表明：动能1.0-3.0MeV的Xe₃₀₊离子入射Au靶,下表面空心原子M壳层空穴退激发射了能量0.7-1.75keV的Xe M X射线,下表面空心原子N壳层空穴退激发射了能量0.5-0.7keV的Xe N X射线。     

利用蒙特卡罗模拟评估医用电子直线加速器非均整模式的光子束软化特性

本文利用蒙特卡罗模拟评估不同能量、不同射野下医用电子直线加速器非均整模式(Flattening Filter Free, FFF)光子束的软化特性.基于本院的Varian Edge加速器的组件参数和测量数据，利用通用蒙卡程序EGSnrc/BEAMnrc构建6 MV均整模式(Flattening Filter, FF)、6 MV FFF和10 MV FFF下的机头模型，使用EGSnrc/DOSXYZnrc程序模拟获得5 cm×5 cm和10 cm×10 cm射野下的百分深度剂量(Percentage Dose Depth, PDD)和横向剂量离轴比(Off Axis Ratio, OAR),与测量数据进行比较，确定不同模式的源参数；在此基础上模拟三种光子束模型在上述两种射野射野条件下非均匀模体(水-骨-肺-水)内的PDD,并对其相空间文件进行能谱分析，评估FFF光子束的软化特性.三种光子束模式在非均匀模体内的PDD趋势相似，但在小野时扰动更大，FFF模式相较于FF模式，包含更多的低能光子和更少的机头散射；在低能、小野时，6 MV FFF模式的光子束软化特性带来的剂量影响与6 MV FF模...     

多层膜样品的背散射/沟道、溅射剥层/背散射和二次离子质谱分析

用背散射／沟道、溅射剥层／背散射和二次离子质谱方法分析了分子束外延生长的Si/GexSi1-x多层膜。由2MeV^4He^ 离子背散射／沟道分析，确定了外延生长薄膜的厚度、组分和晶格结构的完美性；用低能Ar^ 离子溅射剥层，减薄样品外延层厚度后，再做背散射分析，可获得有关较深层薄膜与基体界面和溅射剥层的信息；二次离子质谱分析清晰地显示出溅射剥层前后样品的交替层周期性结构。     

Observation of conformation-specific pathways in the photodissociation of 1-iodopropane ions.

Many molecules can rotate freely around single bonds and thereby interconvert between different conformations, such as gauche and anti 1,2-disubstituted ethane, a classic example of conformational isomerism. Even though rotation occurs rapidly at room temperature, the product selectivity seen in some reactions has been explained by conformation-dependent reaction mechanisms: if reactant molecules differing only in their conformation are located at different positions on the reaction path, they may undergo different reactions. But a direct verification of this effect is difficult, because the energy barrier separating conformational isomers is so low that under ambient conditions reactants with more than one conformation will be present. But by using temperatures low enough to suppress the interconversion between different conformations, gauche-1-iodopropane ions and anti-1-iodopropane ions have been selectively generated. Here we show that the kinetic energy released during the photodissociation of 1-iodopropane ions depends strongly on the conformation of the ions. Thermodynamic arguments and ab initio calculations indicate that this difference in kinetic energy release results from differences in the reaction mechanism, with gauche-1-iodopropane ions forming 2-propyl ions and anti-1-iodopropane ions forming protonated cyclopropane ions. These findings suggest that the well-known concept of conformation selection forms the basis of a simple scheme for reaction control, thus providing in some cases an attractive alternative for more involved schemes that utilize the phase and pulse shape of laser beams to control chemical reactions.     

Crystalline ion beams

By freezing out the motion between particles in a high-energy storage ring, it should be possible to create threads of ions, offering research opportunities beyond the realm of standard accelerator physics. The usual heating due to intra-beam collisions should completely vanish, giving rise to a state of unprecedented brilliance. Despite a continuous improvement of beam cooling techniques, such as electron cooling and laser cooling, the ultimate goal of beam crystallization has not yet been reached in high-energy storage rings. Electron-cooled dilute beams of highly charged ions show liquid-like order with unique applications. An experiment using laser cooling suggested a reduction of intra-beam heating, although the results were ambiguous. Here we demonstrate the crystallization of laser-cooled Mg+ beams circulating in the radiofrequency quadrupole storage ring PALLAS at a velocity of 2,800 m s-1, which corresponds to a beam energy of 1 eV. A sudden collapse of the transverse beam size and the low longitudinal velocity spread clearly indicate the phase transition. The continuous ring-shaped crystalline beam shows exceptional stability, surviving for more than 3,000 revolutions without cooling.     

Molecule modification andmass deposition induced bythe implantation of lowenergy Fe+ ion beamsinto amino acids

Fe+ ion beams with the energy of 110 keV were implanted into films of L(+)-cysteine (HSCH2CH(NH2)COOH). One of the single crystals grown in hydrochloric acid solution with the implanted samples through slow evaporation was structurally characterized by the X-ray crystallography. The crystal is monoclinic, space group C2, with a = 1.8534(4) nm, b = 0.5234(1) nm, c = 0.7212(1) nm, β= 103.72°, V = 0.67965(3) nm3, Z = 4, F(000) = 144.0, Dclac = 1.763 g@cm-3, μ(MoKα) = 1.06 mm-1, T = 293(2) K. R = 0.0379, wR = 0.0835 for 660 observed reflections (I > 2σ(I)). The structural formula of the crystal compound is (CH2CH(NH2)NO2)ClFe (Mr = 180.38 u). Products of heavy ion beam irradiation were purified and it was directly confirmed that the implanted Fe+ ions had been deposited in the novel molecules. The same doses of Fe+ ion beams of the same energy were implanted into films of L(+)-cysteine hydrochloride monohydrate. FTIR spectroscopy of the implanted samples proved that some of the original molecules were seriously damaged and significant modifications were induced.