TY - JOUR
T1 - High-Brilliance Betatron γ -Ray Source Powered by Laser-Accelerated Electrons
AU - Ferri, J.
AU - Corde, S.
AU - Döpp, A.
AU - Lifschitz, A.
AU - Doche, A.
AU - Thaury, C.
AU - Ta Phuoc, K.
AU - Mahieu, B.
AU - Andriyash, I. A.
AU - Malka, V.
AU - Davoine, X.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Physical Society.
PY - 2018/6/21
Y1 - 2018/6/21
N2 - Recent progress in laser-driven plasma acceleration now enables the acceleration of electrons to several gigaelectronvolts. Taking advantage of these novel accelerators, ultrashort, compact, and spatially coherent x-ray sources called betatron radiation have been developed and applied to high-resolution imaging. However, the scope of the betatron sources is limited by a low energy efficiency and a photon energy in the 10 s of kiloelectronvolt range, which for example prohibits the use of these sources for probing dense matter. Here, based on three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we propose an original hybrid scheme that combines a low-density laser-driven plasma accelerator with a high-density beam-driven plasma radiator, thereby considerably increasing the photon energy and the radiated energy of the betatron source. The energy efficiency is also greatly improved, with about 1% of the laser energy transferred to the radiation, and the γ-ray photon energy exceeds the megaelectronvolt range when using a 15 J laser pulse. This high-brilliance hybrid betatron source opens the way to a wide range of applications requiring MeV photons, such as the production of medical isotopes with photonuclear reactions, radiography of dense objects in the defense or industrial domains, and imaging in nuclear physics.
AB - Recent progress in laser-driven plasma acceleration now enables the acceleration of electrons to several gigaelectronvolts. Taking advantage of these novel accelerators, ultrashort, compact, and spatially coherent x-ray sources called betatron radiation have been developed and applied to high-resolution imaging. However, the scope of the betatron sources is limited by a low energy efficiency and a photon energy in the 10 s of kiloelectronvolt range, which for example prohibits the use of these sources for probing dense matter. Here, based on three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we propose an original hybrid scheme that combines a low-density laser-driven plasma accelerator with a high-density beam-driven plasma radiator, thereby considerably increasing the photon energy and the radiated energy of the betatron source. The energy efficiency is also greatly improved, with about 1% of the laser energy transferred to the radiation, and the γ-ray photon energy exceeds the megaelectronvolt range when using a 15 J laser pulse. This high-brilliance hybrid betatron source opens the way to a wide range of applications requiring MeV photons, such as the production of medical isotopes with photonuclear reactions, radiography of dense objects in the defense or industrial domains, and imaging in nuclear physics.
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.254802
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.254802
M3 - Article
C2 - 29979083
AN - SCOPUS:85049049393
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 120
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
IS - 25
M1 - 254802
ER -
