Development and calibration of a Thomson parabola with microchannel plate for the detection of laser-accelerated MeV ions

This article reports on the development and application of a Thomson parabola (TP) equipped with a (90×70) mm2 microchannel-plate (MCP) for the analysis of laser-accelerated ions, produced by a high-energy, high-intensity laser system. The MCP allows an online measurement of the produced ions in every single laser shot. An electromagnet instead of permanent magnets is used that allows the tuning of the magnetic field to adapt the field strength to the analyzed ion species and energy. We describe recent experiments at the 100 TW laser facility at the Laboratoire d'Utilization des Lasers Intenses (LULI) in Palaiseau, France, where we have observed multiple ion species and charge states with ions accelerated up to 5 MeV/u (O+6), emitted from the rear surface of a laser-irradiated 50 μm Au foil. Within the experiment the TP was calibrated for protons and for the first time conversion efficiencies of MeV protons (2-13 MeV) to primary electrons (electrons immediately generated by an ion impact onto a surface) in the MCP are presented.