Time-Of-Flight methodologies with large-area diamond detectors for the effectively characterization of tens of MeV protons

Abstract

A novel detector based on a polycrystalline diamond sensor is here employed in an advanced Time-Of-Flight scheme for the characterization of energetic ions accelerated during laser-matter interactions. The optimization of the detector and of the advanced TOF methodology allow to obtain signals characterized by high signal-to-noise ratio and high dynamic range even in the most challenging experimental environments, where the interaction of high-intensity laser pulses with matter leads to effective ion acceleration, but also to the generation of strong Electromagnetic Pulses (EMPs) with intensities up to the MV/m order. These are known to be a serious threat for the fielded diagnostic systems. In this paper we report on the measurement performed with the PW-class laser system Vega 3 at CLPU (30 J energy, 10^21 W/cm2 intensity, 30 fs pulses) irradiating solid targets, where both tens of MeV ions and intense EMP fields were generated. The data were analyzed to retrieve a calibrated proton spectrum and in particular we focus on the analysis of the most energetic portion (E > 5.8 MeV) of the spectrum showing a procedure to deal with the intrinsic lower sensitivity of the detector in the mentioned spectral-range.

References in corpus (4)

• Liquid crystal films as on-demand, variable thickness (50-5000 nm) targets for intense lasers
• Accurate spectra for high energy ions by advanced time-of-flight diamond-detector schemes in experiments with high energy and intensity lasers
• A new energy spectrum reconstruction method for Time-Of-Flight diagnostics of high-energy laser-driven protons
• Severe signal loss in diamond beam loss monitors in high particle rate environments by charge trapping in radiation-induced defects