A research team at the HZDR has succeeded in significantly increasing the acceleration of protons via laser pulse by using an innovative method. Credit: HZDR / Blaurockacceleration. By employing an innovative method, a research team managed to substantially exceed the previous record for proton acceleration. For the first time, they achieved energies that so far have only seemed possible at much larger facilities.
They harness a property of laser flashes that is generally seen as a flaw. “A pulse’s energy doesn’t kick in immediately, which would be the ideal case,” reports Ziegler. “Instead, a little of the laser energy rushes ahead of it, like a kind of vanguard.”In the new concept, it is this light rushing ahead that plays a key role. When it hits a specially manufactured plastic foil in a vacuum chamber, it can change it in a specific way.
“The result is that a complex cascade of acceleration mechanisms is triggered in the material,” says Ziegler, “causing the protons contained in the film to be accelerated much more than they were by our DRACO laser.” In figures: whereas the facility previously achieved proton energies of approximately 80 MeV, it can now generate 150 MeV – almost double.