The new capabilities of the short focal length, high intensity beamline, named iP2, at the BELLA Center will extend the reach of research in high energy density science, including accessing new regimes of high gradient ion acceleration and their applications. This 1 Hz system will provide an on-target peak intensity beyond with a temporal contrast ratio of < that will be enabled by the addition of an on-demand double plasma mirror setup. An overview of the beamline design and the main available diagnostics are presented in this paper as well as a selection of accessible research areas. As a demonstration of the iP2 beamline's capabilities, we present 3D particle-in-cell simulations of ion acceleration in the magnetic vortex acceleration regime. The simulations were performed with pure hydrogen targets and multi-species targets. Proton beams with energy up to 125 MeV and an approximately 12° full angle emission are observed as preplasma scale length and target tilt are varied. The number of accelerated protons is on the order of 109/MeV/sr for energies above 60 MeV.
Laser–solid interaction studies enabled by the new capabilities of the iP2 BELLA PW beamline
Invited speaker.
Present address: Marvel Fusion GmbH, Blumenstrasse 28, 80331 München, Germany.
Present address: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
Also at: Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Electronic mail: cgrgeddes@lbl.gov
Note: This paper is part of the Special Collection: Papers from the 63rd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics.
Note: Paper CI1 4, Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 66 (2021).
Sahel Hakimi, Lieselotte Obst-Huebl, Axel Huebl, Kei Nakamura, Stepan S. Bulanov, Sven Steinke, Wim P. Leemans, Zachary Kober, Tobias M. Ostermayr, Thomas Schenkel, Anthony J. Gonsalves, Jean-Luc Vay, Jeroen van Tilborg, Csaba Toth, Carl B. Schroeder, Eric Esarey, Cameron G. R. Geddes; Laser–solid interaction studies enabled by the new capabilities of the iP2 BELLA PW beamline. Phys. Plasmas 1 August 2022; 29 (8): 083102. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0089331
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