RESEARCH ON LASER-ACCELERATED PROTON GENERATION AT KAERI

A prototype of a relativistic proton generation system, based on laser-induced plasma interaction, has been designed and fabricated. The system is composed of three major parts: a fs TW laser; a target chamber, including targets and controls; and a diagnostic system for charged particles and lasers. An Offner-type pulse stretcher for chirped pulse amplification (CPA) and eight pass pre-amplifier are installed. The main amplifier will be integrated with a new pumping laser. The design values of the laser at the first stage are 1 TW in power and 50 fs in pulse duration. We expect to generate protons with their maximum energy of approximately 3 MeV and the flux of at least per pulse using a 10 m Al target. A prototype target chamber with eight 8-inch flanges, including target mounts, has been designed and fabricated. For laser diagnostics, an adaptive optics based on the Shack-Hartmann type, beam monitoring, and alignment system are all under development. For a charged particle, CR-39 detectors, a Thomson parabola spectrometer, and Si charged-particle detectors will be used for the density profile and energy spectrum. In this paper, we present the preliminary design for laser-induced proton generation. We also present plans for future work, as well as theoretical simulations.