# A new energy spectrum reconstruction method for Time-Of-Flight diagnostics of high-energy laser-driven protons

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel energy spectrum reconstruction method for Time-of-Flight diagnostics of high-energy laser-driven protons, improving spectral analysis accuracy using Monte Carlo simulations and validation against established diagnostics.

## Contribution

The paper presents a new analysis approach that accurately reconstructs proton energy spectra from TOF signals by modeling detector energy loss with Monte Carlo simulations.

## Key findings

- Validated against Thomson Parabola Spectrometer data
- Accurately reconstructs high-energy proton spectra
- Enhances real-time beam spectral characterization

## Abstract

The Time-of-Flight (ToF) technique coupled with semiconductor-like detectors, as silicon carbide and diamond, is one of the most promising diagnostic methods for high-energy, high repetition rate, laser-accelerated ions allowing a full on-line beam spectral characterization. A new analysis method for reconstructing the energy spectrum of high-energy laser-driven ion beams from TOF signals is hereby presented and discussed. The proposed method takes into account the detector's working principle, through the accurate calculation of the energy loss in the detector active layer, using Monte Carlo simulations. The analysis method was validated against well-established diagnostics, such as the Thomson Parabola Spectrometer, during an experimental campaign carried out at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL, UK) with the high-energy laser-driven protons accelerated by the VULCAN Petawatt laser.