Nuclear reactions in copper induced by protons from a petawatt laser-foil interaction

Yang, J. M. and McKenna, P. and Ledingham, K. W.D. and McCanny, T. and Shimizu, S. and Robson, L. and Clarke, R. J. and Neely, D. and Norreys, P. A. and Wei, M. S. and Krushelnick, K. and Nilson, P. and Mangles, S. P.D. and Singhal, R. P. (2004) Nuclear reactions in copper induced by protons from a petawatt laser-foil interaction. Applied Physics Letters, 84 (5). pp. 675-677. ISSN 0003-6951 (https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1645314)

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Abstract

A range of laser-driven proton-induced reactions in copper from a petawatt laser-solid interaction were investigated. The experiment was carried out on petawatt arm of VULCAN Nd:Glass laser at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, U.K. where Cu foils were exposed to the proton beams from the laser-irradiated target which induced nuclear reactions. This technique used a very thin layer of copper which was inserted into the proton beam which had a smaller impact on the proton beam and was optimized according to the energies and intensities of the protons. The results show that the energy spectrum of the accelerated protons was in the range of 10-40 MeV.