Tammy Ma | 17-ERD-039
Overview
Bright beams of ions accelerated by short-pulse, high-intensity lasers enable a wealth of applications ranging from radiography to the generation of novel high-energy-density (HED) states of matter. Our project aimed to develop and explore a particle beam capability at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) using the Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC) short-pulse laser. The ARC laser resides in a novel regime of very high energy (kilojoule), relatively long (multi-picosecond) pulselength, and large (~10s of microns) focal spot. Despite the only quasi-relativistic intensities that the laser is capable of achieving, a very robust proton source was successfully demonstrated and characterized, with maximum energies exceeding conventional ponderomotive scaling by ~5x, and high conversion efficiency giving >50 J into protons. Furthermore, a new multi-step modeling capability was developed to account for the large temporal and spatial scales necessary to accurately predict these maximum proton energies. A new scaling for proton energies that accounts for new acceleration mechanisms in this laser regime was elucidated. This work now enables new applications of proton heating, imaging, deflectometry, and radiography in NIF HED physics, inertial confinement fusion (ICF), and Discovery Science campaigns.
Impact on Mission
Our project advanced Livermore's core capabilities in HED science and laser systems, and it supports the Laboratory's ICF. This research also directly supported the Laboratory's FY19 Investment Strategy priorities of "full development of a short-pulse simulation capability" and "secondary sources of particles and photons based on laser-plasma interactions." Our efforts helped develop ARC as a versatile, high-flux source of protons and electrons, applicable for probing various ICF and HED configurations—research that ultimately supports both our programmatic and national security missions and makes it possible to explore new HED plasma regimes of interest to the broader scientific community.
Publications, Presentations, Etc.
Bhutwala, K., et al. 2017. "Prediction of Scaling Physics Laws for Proton Acceleration with Extended Parameter Space of the NIF ARC." 59th Annual Meetings of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, Milwaukee, WI, October 2017. LLNL-ABS-734826.
Candeias Lemos, N. 2017. "Simulating Proton Acceleration on NIF/ARC." LLNL-PROP-733701.
––– . 2017. "Proton Radiography of Target Normal Sheath Acceleration Fields in the Long Pulse Regime." LLNL-PROP-729366.
Cochran, G., et al. 2019. "Enhanced Electron Acceleration from Intense Multi-Picosecond Laser Pulses Interacting with Focusing Cone Target." APS DPP. LLNL-PRES-794462.
Colleoni-Forestier, P., et al. 2017. "Measurements of Plasma Mirror Reflectivity and Laser Beam Quality for Pulses with Tens of Picosecond duration." APS DPP. LLNL-POST-740910.
Edghill, B., et al. 2018. "Effects of Laser Parameters on a Laser Focal Spot after a Plasma Mirror." UCSD Research Expo. LLNL-POST-750318.
––– . 2018. "Plasma Mirror Focal Spot Quality for SiO2 and Aluminum Mirrors for Laser Pulses up to 30 ps." APS DPP. LLNL-POST-760824.
––– . 2018. "Plasma Mirror Reflectivity and Focal Spot Quality for Glass and Aluminum Mirrors for Laser Pulses up to 30 Picoseconds." 60th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, Portland, OR, November 2018. LLNL-ABS-753803.
Grace, E., et al. 2019. "Wavelength-Multiplexed Holography for Single Shot Spatiotemporal Simulations of NIF's Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC) Laser." LLNL Summer Scholar Poster Symposium. LLNL-POST-782284.
Hermann, M. 2017. "Monte Carlo Analysis of Timing & Pointing Errors on Peak Intensity at TCC—Strategy to get to 10 19 W/cm 2 ." LLNL-PRES-728704.
Kemp, A., and T. Ma. 2017. "Laser Plasma Interaction Near the Relativistic Threshold." LLNL-PRES-728779.
Kemp, A., et al. 2018. "Electron Acceleration in Multi-Picosecond Multi-Kilojoule Laser Pulses." APS DPP. LLNL-PRES-760632.
––– . 2019. "Direct Electron Acceleration in Multi-Kilojoule, Multi-Picosecond Laser Pulses." APS DPP. LLNL-PRES-793662.
Kim, J. and T. Ma. 2018. "Computational Study of TNSA Proton Acceleration with Multi-Picosecond and 100s Joule Lasers." NIF User Group Meeting 2018. LLNL-ABS-744791, LLNL-PRES-743436, and LLNL-POST-745726.
Kim, J., et al. 2017. "Computational Study of TNSA Proton Acceleration with Multi-Picosecond and 100s Joule Lasers." US-Japan Workshop @ UCSD. LLNL-PRES-743436.
––– . 2018. "Acceleration of Protons and Electrons from Multi-Picosecond, Kilojoule Lasers." US-Japan Nov. 2018, oral. LLNL-PRES-760823.
––– . 2018. "Computational Modeling of Proton Acceleration with Multi-Picosecond and High-Energy Kilojoule Lasers." Physics of Plasmas 25 , 083109. doi: 10.1063/1.5040410.
––– . 2019. "Acceleration of Protons and Electrons from High-Energy, Kilojoule, and Multi-Ps Laser Pulses." ICHED, invited oral. LLNL-PRES-771095.
Ma, T. 2017. "ARC Short-Pulse Laser-driven Proton Beams for Novel HED and ICF Applications." LLNL-PRES-726788.
Ma, T., et al. 2017. "Exploration of Plasma Optics for Increasing NIF ARC Intensity." IFSA2017, September 11–15, 2017. Saint Malo, France. LLNL-ABS-730473. LLNL-PRES-738181.
––– . 2017. "Recent Results and Future Prospects for HEDP on the NIF ARC Laser." HEDSA Symposium 2017, invited oral. LLNL-PRES-740304.
––– . 2017. "ARC Short-Pulse Laser-Driven Proton Beams for Novel HED and ICF Applications." NIF User Group, invited oral. LLNL-PRES-726788
––– . 2018. "Computational Modeling of Proton Acceleration with Multi-Picosecond and High-Energy Kilojoule Lasers." Physics of Plasmas 25. doi: 10.1063/1.5040410. LLNL-JRNL-750501.
––– . 2018. "Multi-ps Short-Pulse Laser-Driven Particle Acceleration for Novel HED and ICF Applications." LLNL-PROP-748816.
––– . 2018. "Measurements of Plasma Mirror Reflectivity and Laser Beam Quality for Pulses with Tens of Picoseconds Duration." LLNL-POST-740910.
––– . 2018. "ARC Short-Pulse Laser-Driven Proton Beams for Novel High-Energy-Density Experiments on the NIF." LLNL-POST-752428.
––– . 2018. "Recent experimental TNSA proton acceleration results from the NIF-ARC." US-Japan Nov. 2018, oral. LLNL-PRES-760843.
––– . 2019. "A New Regime of Short-Pulse Laser-Particle Acceleration: ARC Protons for Novel HED and ICF Applications." NIF User Group 2019. LLNL-PRES-767534.
––– . 2019. "A New Regime of Laser-Particle Acceleration: NIF ARC Proton Beams for Novel High-Energy-Density Experiments." LLNL Board of Governors.. LLNL-POST-767939.
––– . 2019. "A New Regime of Short-Pulse Laser-Particle Acceleration: ARC Protons for Novel HED and ICF." ICHED 2019. LLNL-PRES-771094.
––– . 2019. "What We’ve Learned from ARC, the World’s Most Energetic Short-Pulse Laser." NIF Ten Years Of Dedication. LLNL-PRES-786757.
––– . 2019. "A New Regime of Short-Pulse Laser-Particle Acceleration: an Overview of Results from the NIF-ARC Protons Campaign." APS DPP. LLNL-PRES-794697.
Manuel, M., et al. 2018. "Intrinsic Resolution Limits of Monolithic Organic Scintillators for Use in Rep-Rated Proton Imaging." Nuclear Inst. And Methods in Physics Research, A. 913 , 103–106. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2018.10.119. LLNL-JRNL-761144.
Mariscal, D. 2017. "ARC-Driven Deuteron Beams for Directed High Energy Neutron Beams and Nuclear Reaction Experiments." LLNL-PROP-738445.
––– . 2017. "ARC-Driven Proton Beams for Probing and Driving High-Energy-Density Experiments on the NIF." Sixth International Conference on High Energy Density Physics, Wakayama, Japan, June 2017. LLNL-ABS-727219.
Mariscal, D., et al. 2017. "ARC-driven Proton Beams for Driving and Probing High-Energy-Density Experiments on the NIF." US-Japan Meeting. LLNL-POST-734151.
––– . 2017. "ARC-driven Proton Beams for Probing and Driving High-Energy-Density Experiments on the NIF." US-Japan Technical Symposium. LLNL-PRES-739108.
––– . 2018. "Calibration of Proton Dispersion for the NIF Electron Positron Proton Spectrometer (NEPPS) for Short-pulse Laser Experiments on the NIF ARC." Reviews of Scientific Instruments 89, 101145. doi: 10.1063/1.5039388. LLNL-JRNL-751040.
––– . 2018. "ARC-Driven Deuteron Beams for Directed High Energy Neutron Beams and Nuclear Reaction Experiments." LLNL-PROP-741678.
––– . 2018. "ARC-Driven Proton Beams for Probing and Driving High-Energy-Density Experiments on the NIF." ICHED LLNL-PRES-740693.
––– . 2019. "First Demonstration of ARC-Accelerated Proton Beams at the National Ignition Facility." Physics of Plasmas 26, 043110. doi: 10.1063/1.5085787. LLNL-ABS-753602.
––– . 2019. "A New Phase Space of Short-pulse Laser-particle Acceleration: Multi-ps and Pulse Shaping." HEDSA Symposium 2019. LLNL-PRES-794522.
––– . 2019. "Shaped Laser Short-Pulses for Manipulating Time-Dependent Particle Acceleration." APS DPP. LLNL-PRES-794317.
Simpson, R., et al. 2019. "Development of Thomson Parabola Charged Particle Spectrometer (TP- CPS) at the NIF/ NIF ARC for Ion Acceleration Measurements, Stopping Power Experiments and Laboratory Astrophysics." LLNL Summer Scholar Poster Symposium. LLNL-POST-781697.
Wilks, S. et al. 2017. "Proton and Ion Acceleration using Multi-kJ Lasers." APS DPP. LLNL-PRES-740481.
––– . 2017. "Proton and Ion Acceleration from Multi-kJ Lasers." APS-DPP 2017 Meeting, Milwaukee, WI, October 2017. LLNL-ABS-734815.
––– . 2019. "Radiation Hydrodynamic Simulations of Laser Plasma Interactions inside Parabolic Cone Targets." APS DPP. LLNL-PRES-794267.
