Laser acceleration of low emittance, high energy ions and applications

Laser-accelerated ion sources have exceptional properties, i.e. high brightness and high spectral cut-off (56 MeV at present), high directionality and laminarity (at least 100-fold better than conventional accelerators beams), short burst duration (ps). Thanks to these properties, these sources open new opportunities for applications. Among these, we have already explored their use for proton radiography of fields in plasmas and for warm dense matter generation. These sources could also stimulate development of compact ion accelerators or be used for medical applications. To extend the range of applications, ion energy and conversion efficiency must however be increased. Two strategies for doing so using present-day lasers have been successfully explored in LULI experiments. In view of applications, it is also essential to control (i.e. collimate and energy select) these beams. For this purpose, we have developed an ultra-fast laser-triggered micro-lens providing tuneable control of the beam divergence as well as energy selection. To cite this article: J. Fuchs et al., C. R. Physique 10 (2009).