Experimental Investigation of Ion Acceleration Mechanisms in Sub-Micron Liquid Water Sheet Targets
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Laser-driven ion sources have attracted significant interest due to their potential for developing compact, high-gradient ion accelerators and their suitability for a range of applications [1]. Many of these-including nuclear fuel breeding and neutron radiation material damage studies-require a stable, high-flux, multi-Hz proton source with energies above 10 MeV. Our research at SLAC indicates that liquid targets operated at high repetition rate offer a promising pathway towards meeting these requirements. We report experimental results on proton acceleration up to 29 MeV from sub-micron liquid water sheet targets [2] irradiated by high-intensity, ultrashort laser pulses at 3.3 Hz with energies between 1 and 3 J in a ~19,000-shot campaign conducted with the L3-HAPLS laser at ELI Beamlines. Target thickness, laser energy, and laser temporal shape scans were performed with the proton beam being characterized using time-of-flight, Thomson parabola, and ion imager diagnostics. This study resulted in reproducible, precise characterization over hundreds of datapoints at any laser and target condition. The measured proton spectra show strong sensitivity to the laser and target parameters indicating that we can access new acceleration regimes where we can manipulate the spectral shapes and cutoff energies of the laser-driven ion beam. These results show that the dominant acceleration mechanisms are highly sensitive to the target density evolution and that liquid water sheets provide a stable, high-repetition rate platform for exploring novel ion acceleration mechanisms and for advancing high-flux proton beam sources.
Authors: Girik Jain, Griffin D. Glenn, Stefano Faubel, Jhonnatan G. Vasquez, Alexis Marret, Charlotte A. Palmer, Peter Parsons, Jimmy Weeks, Stefan Popa, Daniel Ursescu, Raz H. Levi, Ishay Pomerantz, Milenko Vescovi, Karl Zeil, Martin Rehwald, Filip Grepl, Lorenzo Giuffrida, Francesco Schillaci, Andriy Velyhan, Helena Lefebvre, Maksym Tyrus, Maxence Gauthier, Siegfried H. Glenzer
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7204566762