Commissioning of the laser-driven ion acceleration beamline at the Centre for Advanced Laser Applications

TL;DR

This paper reports the commissioning and initial performance results of the LION laser-driven ion acceleration beamline at CALA, demonstrating stable proton acceleration above 20 MeV and optimization of parameters for applications.

Contribution

The paper presents the first commissioning of the LION beamline with detailed setup, optimization procedures, and stable proton acceleration at energies suitable for applications.

Findings

Proton energies above 20 MeV achieved regularly.

Stable acceleration of 12 MeV protons demonstrated.

Optimized target parameters for maximum stability and yield.

Abstract

The Centre for Advanced Laser Applications (CALA) in Garching near Munich features the ATLAS 3000 laser system, which can deliver up to 3\,PW within a pulse length of 20\,fs. It is the driver for the Laser-driven ION (LION) beamline, which aims to accelerate protons and carbons for applications. For commissioning, we currently operate with 5\,J on target in 28\,fs. A $20\degree$ off-axis parabolic mirror focuses the 28\,cm diameter laser-beam down to a micrometer-sized spot, where a vacuum-compatible wave-front sensor is used in combination with a deformable mirror for focus optimization. The nano-Foil Target Positioning System (nFTPS) can replace targets with a repetition rate of up to 0.5\,Hz and store up to 19 different target foils. A dipole magnet in a wide-angle spectrometer configuration deflects ions onto a CMOS detector for an online read-out. Commissioning started mid 2019 with regular proton acceleration using nm-thin plastic foils as targets. Since then proton cut-off energies above 20\,MeV have been regularly achieved. The amount of light traveling backwards from the experiment into the laser is constantly monitored and 5\,J on target have been determined as the current limit to prevent damage in the laser. Protons with a kinetic energy of 12\,MeV are stably accelerated with the given laser parameters and are suitable for transport with permanent magnet quadrupoles towards our application platform. We have performed parameter scans varying target thicknesses to optimize for highest and most stable proton numbers at 12\,MeV kinetic energy, and investigated shot-to-shot particle number stability for the best parameters.