A compact online proton spectrometer for diagnosis of picosecond intense-laser accelerated protons
Citation
Teng, J., Shan, L. Q., Zhu, B., Deng, Z. G., He, S. K., Yuan, Z. Q., Qi, W., Wang, H. L., Wei, H., Yan, Y. H., Huang, H., Zhang, T. K., Wang, W. W., Yi, T., Zhang, F., Yu, M. H., Yang, L., Lu, F., Yang, Z. H., Zhang, B., Cui, B., Tian, C., Zhou, K. N., Wu, Y. C., Su, J. Q., … Gu, Y. Q. (2023). A compact online proton spectrometer for diagnosis of picosecond intense-laser accelerated protons. AIP Advances, 13(11), 115008. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0171418
Keywords
- Proton spectrometer
- CMOS plate detector
- Picosecond intense-laser
- Electromagnetic pulse (EMP)
- Scintillator screen
- Fiber optic plate (FOP)
- Laser-driven ion acceleration
- Thomson parabola spectrometer (TPS)
- Energy spectrum
- Conversion efficiency
- Geant4 Monte Carlo simulations
- Xingguang-III laser facility
- CsI scintillator
- DRZ-high Gd2O2S scintillator
- GAGG(Ce) scintillator
Brief
A compact online proton spectrometer based on a CMOS plate detector was developed to measure proton spectra safely and efficiently.
Summary
This article presents a new design for an online proton spectrometer used to measure the energy of protons accelerated by intense picosecond lasers. The spectrometer utilizes a CMOS plate detector composed of a scintillator screen, a fiber optic plate (FOP), and a CMOS sensor. The scintillator screen converts proton energy into visible light, which is collected by the FOP and then detected by the CMOS sensor. An aluminum housing protects the system from strong electromagnetic pulses (EMP) generated during laser-plasma interactions.
The researchers analyzed the detector responses of three scintillator screens: CsI, DRZ-high Gd2O2S, and GAGG(Ce). Results showed that this method is more effective for detecting protons accelerated by picosecond lasers compared to using just a CMOS sensor. The spectrometer was tested at the Xingguang-III laser facility, effectively shielding EMP and recording proton signals using different scintillators. Using a 50 μm thick GAGG scintillator, the system's spatial resolution primarily depends on the entrance pinhole size and the distances between the pinhole, the proton source, and the detector. The study suggests that using a thinner scintillator with higher quantum yield and a thinner aluminum foil could further improve the detection of lower-energy protons.