DOE OSTI2015
Optical lasers with high intensity (> 10 19 W/cm 2 ), high power (> 100 TW) and high energy (> 50 J) are enabling research that is expanding the frontiers of physics. Some of the research opportunities and importance are described in several reports. Here we highlight a prominent one: harnessing relativistic laser plasmas to generate intense ion beams, much more intense than it is possible with conventional particle-acceleration technology. This topic is important in two ways. On the one hand, it represents exceedingly exciting science in plasma physics and extreme electrodynamics (i.e., “high-field” physics). On the other hand, it enables advanced technology for advancing other fields of science, for societal applications (e.g., fast ignition8) and for national defense. There are tremendous opportunities for continued progress in existing laser facilities in the US (with laser intensities up to ~ 10 21 W/cm 2 , such as the Trident Laser Facility) provided modest funding support and reorientation of these lasers as national user facilities. Longer term, there are also great scientific opportunities for the US by extending our capabilities to intensities of ~ 10 22 W/cm 2 and beyond with shaped laser pulses of intermediate duration (~ 100 fs), to complement high intensity, shorter pulse length lasers planned worldwide. Such a complementary US facility would in fact excel in the ion-beam generation mission proposed here. At ~ 10 22 W/cm 2 and beyond, besides meeting the requirements for important societal applications of intense ion beams, novel high-field physics becomes important and amenable to study. That includes e.g., radiation self-force for electrons, and direct coupling of the laser to the ions (not just to electrons and then indirectly to the ions). These new physics in turn may open new technological opportunities, such as x-ray and gamma-ray-beam sources and new ion-acceleration mechanisms. It is hard to overstate the impact of particle accelerators starting in the last century to the present. Accelerators have had profound impact in society, both as a key enabling experimental tool for the modern scientific edifice, as well as for societal applications such as cancer therapy. Conventional accelerator technology is bumping against two main limitations. One is particle energy (at a reasonable size and cost) rooted in the ~ 25 MeV/m gradient limit from electrical breakdown of conventional accelerator structures. The second is beam intensity, limited by current and space-charge stability of conventional (non-neutral) particle beams. The former issue is being addressed in ingenious ways by “dielectric accelerators” which use high-power, low-energy lasers to set up transient-high fields in dielectric microstructures. These devices promise to advance the state of the art in acceleration gradients, but of course cannot address the intensity limitations. Ultimately, the highest performance is going to require a plasma as the acceleration medium. Plasmas can support the highest accelerating potential gradients and the highest currents. Moreover, by delivering neutralized beams (ions co-moving with unbound electrons), the usual current and space-charge limits can be circumvented. Realizing the highest ion energies and intensities requires a high-power density source to drive the system. Intense, high-power, high-energy lasers represent an ideal drive source, provided the physics can be understood and controlled, i.e., a challenge proposed here. To meet that challenge, the science community can build on the significant progress over the last decade, experimentally, computationally and theoretically.
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