Scintillator-based transverse proton beam profiler for laser-plasma ion sources

Area of Science:

• Plasma Physics
• Particle Accelerators
• Beam Diagnostics

Background:

• Laser-plasma acceleration produces high-quality proton beams.
• Characterizing these beams is crucial for applications.
• Existing diagnostics may lack high repetition rate capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and commission a scintillator-based transverse beam profile diagnostic.
• To achieve high repetition rate measurements for laser-plasma accelerated proton beams.
• To provide coarse energy resolution and flexible optimization.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a plastic scintillator detector coupled with a scientific camera.
• Implemented differential filtering for coarse energy resolution.
• Developed an algorithm to account for scintillator non-linearity for spectral estimation.

Main Results:

• Successfully designed and commissioned a high repetition rate proton beam profiler.
• Demonstrated flexible optimization for varying beam energy ranges.
• Enabled data acquisition at high repetition rates suitable for advanced accelerators.

Conclusions:

• The developed diagnostic system is effective for characterizing laser-plasma accelerated proton beams.
• The system's flexibility allows adaptation to different experimental requirements.
• The algorithm accurately estimates proton spectra, enhancing beam analysis capabilities.