Experimental evidence of production of directional muons from a laser-wakefield accelerator

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Calvin, Lyndsey and Gerstmayr, Elias and Arran, C. and Tudor, Liviana and Foster, T and Fleck, K and Bergmann, B and Doria, D. and Kettle, Brendan and Maguire, H and Malka, V. and Manek, P and Mangles, S.P.D. and McKenna, Paul and Mihai, R.E. and Popa, S and Ridgers, Christopher and Smolyanskiy, P and Wilson, Robbie and Deas, R. and Sarri, G. (2026) Experimental evidence of production of directional muons from a laser-wakefield accelerator. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 68 (3). 035015. ISSN 0741-3335 (https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/ae4d05)

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Abstract

We report on experimental evidence of the generation of directional muons from a laser-wakefield accelerator driven by a PW-class laser. The muons were generated following the interaction of a GeV-scale high-charge electron beam with a 2 cm-thick Pb target and were detected using a Timepix3 detector placed behind a suitable shielding configuration. Data analysis indicates a (99.1 ± 0.5)% confidence of muon detection over noise, in excellent agreement with numerical modelling. Extrapolation of the experimental setup to higher electron energies and charges suggests the potential to guide and separate from noise approximately 10 4 muons/s onto cm 2 -scale areas for applications using a 10 Hz PW laser. These results demonstrate the possibility of generating and transporting directional muon beams using high-power lasers and establish a foundation for the systematic application of laser-driven high-energy muon beams.

ORCID iDs

Calvin, Lyndsey, Gerstmayr, Elias, Arran, C., Tudor, Liviana, Foster, T, Fleck, K, Bergmann, B, Doria, D., Kettle, Brendan, Maguire, H, Malka, V., Manek, P, Mangles, S.P.D., McKenna, Paul ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8061-7091, Mihai, R.E., Popa, S, Ridgers, Christopher, Smolyanskiy, P, Wilson, Robbie ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4835-3262, Deas, R. and Sarri, G.;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:95779
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    13 March 2026
    Published
    3 March 2026
    Accepted
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:13 Mar 2026 12:29
    Last modified:02 Jun 2026 07:10
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/95779
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