A multi-MeV alpha particle source via protonboron fusion driven by a 10-GW tabletop laser

Valeria Istokskaia; Marco Tosca; L. Giuffrida; J. Psikal; Vasiliki Kantarelou; Filip Grepl; Stanislav Stancek; Sabrina Di Siena; Arsenios Hadjikyriacou; Aodhan McIlvenny; Yoann Levy; Jaroslav Huynh; Martin Cimrman; Pavel Pleskunov; Daniil Nikitin; A. Choukourov; Fabio Belloni; Antonino Picciotto; Satyabrata Kar; Marco Borghesi; Antonio Lucianetti; Tomas Mocek; Daniele Margarone

doi:10.1038/s42005-023-01135-x

A multi-MeV alpha particle source via protonboron fusion driven by a 10-GW tabletop laser

Valeria Istokskaia, Marco Tosca, L. Giuffrida, J. Psikal, Vasiliki Kantarelou, Filip Grepl, Stanislav Stancek, Sabrina Di Siena, Arsenios Hadjikyriacou, Aodhan McIlvenny, Yoann Levy, Jaroslav Huynh, Martin Cimrman, Pavel Pleskunov, Daniil Nikitin, A. Choukourov, Fabio Belloni, Antonino Picciotto, Satyabrata Kar, Marco BorghesiAntonio Lucianetti, Tomas Mocek, Daniele Margarone^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Mathematics and Physics

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Abstract

Nuclear fusion between protons and boron-11 nuclei has undergone a revival of interest thanks to the rapid progress in pulsed laser technology. Potential applications of such reaction range from controlled nuclear fusion to radiobiology and cancer therapy. A laser- driven fusion approach consists in the interaction of high-power, high-intensity pulses with H- and B-rich targets. We report on an experiment exploiting proton-boron fusion in CN-BN targets to obtain high-energy alpha particle beams (up to 5 MeV) using a very compact approach and a tabletop laser system with a peak power of ~10 GW, which can operate at high-repetition rate (up to 1 kHz). The secondary resonance in the cross section of proton- boron fusion (~150 keV in the center-of-mass frame) is exploited using a laser-based approach. The generated alpha particles are characterized in terms of energy, flux, and angular distribution using solid-state nuclear-track detectors, demonstrating a flux of ~105 particles per second at 10 Hz, and ~10 6 per second at 1 kHz. Hydrodynamic and particle-in-cell numerical simulations support our experimental findings. Potential impact of our approach on future spread of ultra-compact, multi-MeV alpha particle sources driven by moderate intensity (10 16 -1017 W/cm 2 ) laser pulses is anticipated.

Original language	English
Article number	27
Journal	Communications Physics
Volume	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-023-01135-x
Publication status	Published - 02 Feb 2023

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A multi-MeV alpha particle source via proton-boron fusion driven by a 10-GW tabletop laser
Copyright 2023 the authors. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.
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Istokskaia, V., Tosca, M., Giuffrida, L., Psikal, J., Kantarelou, V., Grepl, F., Stancek, S., Di Siena, S., Hadjikyriacou, A., McIlvenny, A., Levy, Y., Huynh, J., Cimrman, M., Pleskunov, P., Nikitin, D., Choukourov, A., Belloni, F., Picciotto, A., Kar, S., ... Margarone, D. (2023). A multi-MeV alpha particle source via protonboron fusion driven by a 10-GW tabletop laser. Communications Physics, 6, Article 27. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-023-01135-x

@article{299ad4befeef4cb580678ecf1970ae0a,

title = "A multi-MeV alpha particle source via protonboron fusion driven by a 10-GW tabletop laser",

abstract = "Nuclear fusion between protons and boron-11 nuclei has undergone a revival of interest thanks to the rapid progress in pulsed laser technology. Potential applications of such reaction range from controlled nuclear fusion to radiobiology and cancer therapy. A laser- driven fusion approach consists in the interaction of high-power, high-intensity pulses with H- and B-rich targets. We report on an experiment exploiting proton-boron fusion in CN-BN targets to obtain high-energy alpha particle beams (up to 5 MeV) using a very compact approach and a tabletop laser system with a peak power of ~10 GW, which can operate at high-repetition rate (up to 1 kHz). The secondary resonance in the cross section of proton- boron fusion (~150 keV in the center-of-mass frame) is exploited using a laser-based approach. The generated alpha particles are characterized in terms of energy, flux, and angular distribution using solid-state nuclear-track detectors, demonstrating a flux of ~105 particles per second at 10 Hz, and ~10 6 per second at 1 kHz. Hydrodynamic and particle-in-cell numerical simulations support our experimental findings. Potential impact of our approach on future spread of ultra-compact, multi-MeV alpha particle sources driven by moderate intensity (10 16 -1017 W/cm 2 ) laser pulses is anticipated. ",

author = "Valeria Istokskaia and Marco Tosca and L. Giuffrida and J. Psikal and Vasiliki Kantarelou and Filip Grepl and Stanislav Stancek and {Di Siena}, Sabrina and Arsenios Hadjikyriacou and Aodhan McIlvenny and Yoann Levy and Jaroslav Huynh and Martin Cimrman and Pavel Pleskunov and Daniil Nikitin and A. Choukourov and Fabio Belloni and Antonino Picciotto and Satyabrata Kar and Marco Borghesi and Antonio Lucianetti and Tomas Mocek and Daniele Margarone",

year = "2023",

month = feb,

day = "2",

doi = "10.1038/s42005-023-01135-x",

language = "English",

volume = "6",

journal = "Communications Physics",

issn = "2399-3650",

publisher = "Nature Research",

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Istokskaia, V, Tosca, M, Giuffrida, L, Psikal, J, Kantarelou, V, Grepl, F, Stancek, S, Di Siena, S, Hadjikyriacou, A, McIlvenny, A, Levy, Y, Huynh, J, Cimrman, M, Pleskunov, P, Nikitin, D, Choukourov, A, Belloni, F, Picciotto, A, Kar, S , Borghesi, M, Lucianetti, A, Mocek, T & Margarone, D 2023, 'A multi-MeV alpha particle source via protonboron fusion driven by a 10-GW tabletop laser', Communications Physics, vol. 6, 27. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-023-01135-x

TY - JOUR

T1 - A multi-MeV alpha particle source via protonboron fusion driven by a 10-GW tabletop laser

AU - Istokskaia, Valeria

AU - Tosca, Marco

AU - Giuffrida, L.

AU - Psikal, J.

AU - Kantarelou, Vasiliki

AU - Grepl, Filip

AU - Stancek, Stanislav

AU - Di Siena, Sabrina

AU - Hadjikyriacou, Arsenios

AU - McIlvenny, Aodhan

AU - Levy, Yoann

AU - Huynh, Jaroslav

AU - Cimrman, Martin

AU - Pleskunov, Pavel

AU - Nikitin, Daniil

AU - Choukourov, A.

AU - Belloni, Fabio

AU - Picciotto, Antonino

AU - Kar, Satyabrata

AU - Borghesi, Marco

AU - Lucianetti, Antonio

AU - Mocek, Tomas

AU - Margarone, Daniele

PY - 2023/2/2

Y1 - 2023/2/2

N2 - Nuclear fusion between protons and boron-11 nuclei has undergone a revival of interest thanks to the rapid progress in pulsed laser technology. Potential applications of such reaction range from controlled nuclear fusion to radiobiology and cancer therapy. A laser- driven fusion approach consists in the interaction of high-power, high-intensity pulses with H- and B-rich targets. We report on an experiment exploiting proton-boron fusion in CN-BN targets to obtain high-energy alpha particle beams (up to 5 MeV) using a very compact approach and a tabletop laser system with a peak power of ~10 GW, which can operate at high-repetition rate (up to 1 kHz). The secondary resonance in the cross section of proton- boron fusion (~150 keV in the center-of-mass frame) is exploited using a laser-based approach. The generated alpha particles are characterized in terms of energy, flux, and angular distribution using solid-state nuclear-track detectors, demonstrating a flux of ~105 particles per second at 10 Hz, and ~10 6 per second at 1 kHz. Hydrodynamic and particle-in-cell numerical simulations support our experimental findings. Potential impact of our approach on future spread of ultra-compact, multi-MeV alpha particle sources driven by moderate intensity (10 16 -1017 W/cm 2 ) laser pulses is anticipated.

AB - Nuclear fusion between protons and boron-11 nuclei has undergone a revival of interest thanks to the rapid progress in pulsed laser technology. Potential applications of such reaction range from controlled nuclear fusion to radiobiology and cancer therapy. A laser- driven fusion approach consists in the interaction of high-power, high-intensity pulses with H- and B-rich targets. We report on an experiment exploiting proton-boron fusion in CN-BN targets to obtain high-energy alpha particle beams (up to 5 MeV) using a very compact approach and a tabletop laser system with a peak power of ~10 GW, which can operate at high-repetition rate (up to 1 kHz). The secondary resonance in the cross section of proton- boron fusion (~150 keV in the center-of-mass frame) is exploited using a laser-based approach. The generated alpha particles are characterized in terms of energy, flux, and angular distribution using solid-state nuclear-track detectors, demonstrating a flux of ~105 particles per second at 10 Hz, and ~10 6 per second at 1 kHz. Hydrodynamic and particle-in-cell numerical simulations support our experimental findings. Potential impact of our approach on future spread of ultra-compact, multi-MeV alpha particle sources driven by moderate intensity (10 16 -1017 W/cm 2 ) laser pulses is anticipated.

U2 - 10.1038/s42005-023-01135-x

DO - 10.1038/s42005-023-01135-x

M3 - Article

SN - 2399-3650

VL - 6

JO - Communications Physics

JF - Communications Physics

M1 - 27

ER -

A multi-MeV alpha particle source via protonboron fusion driven by a 10-GW tabletop laser

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