| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/C001745/1 |
| Title: |
Energetic protons & ions from high intensity laser plasma interactions |
| Principal Investigator: |
Zepf, Professor KM |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Department: |
Sch of Mathematics and Physics |
| Organisation: |
Queen's University of Belfast |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
01 July 2005 |
Ends: |
30 June 2008 |
Value (£): |
216,569
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| Aerospace, Defence and Marine |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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Recent advances in high power laser technology have provided the basis for a number of promising potential applications and have also enabled experimental physicists to explore entirely new parameter regimes in fundamental plasma and atomic physics. The subject of this proposal involves the application of these new technologies to the study of ultra-intense laser interactions with solid density plasmas and, in particular, measurements of the properties of energetic proton and heavy ion beams produced during these interactions. The production of high quality energetic proton and ion beams, which emerge from the rear surface of thin foil targets irradiated by ultra-intense laser beams, was first measured during our experiments at RAL in 1999 and this has subsequently become one of the hottest topics in laser plasma interactions. This discovery has also generated considerable international interest and has sparked the development of a field dedicated to the exploitation of this new method of ion acceleration . This interest is in large part due to the very large accelerating fields that can be achieved with laser based accelerators and the consequent reduction in size of facilities required to generate proton beams with energies of 10's of MeV. Moreover these proton beams have been found to be of low emittance, which is particularly encouraging considering the short development time of this source. Theoretical calculations suggest that further increases in laser performance (I = 10^23 W/cm^2) may allow the direct production of proton beams with relativistic beam energies of 4-5 GeV from the interaction of a single laser pulse with a single thin foil target .We will undertake a systematic experimental investigation of the acceleration mechanisms for these proton beams and an evaluation of their potential applications using the laser facilities at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (VULCAN and ASTRA).
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.qub.ac.uk |