rd
th
3 Meeting of NAUUL, 30 November
Target area diagnostics with Ultrafast Ultraintense Laser
Proton and Electron Time Histories During
Laser Driven Ion Acceleration
Wendell T. Hill, III1
1
Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland, USA.
Recently, we submitted a proposal to the US Air Force Of Scientific Research to initiate
a program to explore forefront aspects of strong-field physics at the Centro de Láseres
Pulsados (CLPU) in Salamanca, Spain. The program will leverage three unique
features of the VEGA laser facility – high repetition rate, high power and an ability to
combine a 1PW beam with a 200 TW beam. These investigations will be pursued by
an international team of physicists from Europe (CLPU and ELI) and the US (UMD and
LLNL). This presentation will outline the first proposed project, a set of experiments
aimed at generating a beam of protons with energies up to a few hundred MeV within a
20% bandwidth a repetition rates ≳ 1 Hz. We will focus on the underlying physics and
building instrumentation that will enable repeatable, high rep rate beams to be
produced. The goal of Phase I is a proof-of-principle demonstration of key ideas that
will enable monoenergetic schemes to be realized.