Proton beam production by a laser ion source with hydride target

M Okamura; C Stifler; K Palm; D Steski; S Ikeda; M Kumaki; T Kanesue

doi:10.1063/1.4933341

Proton beam production by a laser ion source with hydride target

Rev Sci Instrum. 2016 Feb;87(2):02A906. doi: 10.1063/1.4933341.

Authors

M Okamura¹, C Stifler², K Palm³, D Steski¹, S Ikeda⁴, M Kumaki⁴, T Kanesue¹

Affiliations

¹ Collider-Accelerator Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA.
² Engineering Physics Systems Department, Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island 02918, USA.
³ Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
⁴ Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science, RIKEN, Saitama, Japan.

PMID: 26931967
DOI: 10.1063/1.4933341

Abstract

We studied proton beam production from a laser ion source using hydrogen rich target materials. In general, gas based species are not suitable for laser ion sources since formation of a dense laser target is difficult. In order to achieve reliable operation, we tested hydride targets using a sub nanosecond Q-switched Nd-YAG laser, which may help suppress target material consumption. We detected enough yields of protons from a titanium hydride target without degradation of beam current during the experiment. The combination of a sub nanosecond laser and compressed hydride target may provide stable proton beam.