(Press-News.org) Laser Ion acceleration uses intense laser flashes to heat electrons of a solid to enormous temperatures and propel these charged particles to extreme speeds. These have recently gained traction for applications in selectively destroying cancerous tumor cells, in processing semiconductor materials, and due to their excellent properties - for imaging and fusion relevant conditions.
Massive laser systems with several Joules of light energy are needed to irradiate solids for the purpose. This produces a flash of ions which are accelerated to extreme speeds. Thus, emulating large million volt accelerators is possible within the thickness of a hair strand.
Such lasers are typically limited to a few flashes per second to prevent overheating and damage to laser components. Thus laser driven ion accelerators are limited to demonstrative applications in large experimental facilities. This is far from real world applications that desire that the flashes of high velocity ions are available much more frequently.
Small lasers supplying several thousands of flashes are routinely present in small university laboratories, operating at a thousandth of a Joule of laser pulse energy. Known mechanisms of laser driven ion acceleration would predict that ion acceleration by a few kilovolts is possible in these conditions. This is far below the MeV range ions driven by large scale lasers. This trade-off poses a fundamental challenge in developing ion sources with a high rate of repetition.
In a recent study published in Physical Review Research, S.V. Rahul and Ratul Sabui from TIFR Hyderabad, led by Prof. M Krishnamurthy, have bridged this gap - producing Megavolt energy protons using few millijoule lasers, repeating a thousand times a second. They leverage a well known impediment to laser ion acceleration schemes - namely pre-pulses to their advantage. Pre-pulses are small bursts of laser energy preceding an intense laser pulse. They originate in laser systems due to various imperfections. The ion acceleration process relies on the premise of a single intense laser pulse heating a target. However, pre-pulses prematurely alter the surface of the solid, often even destroying the fine features present on them. Dedicated systems are often necessary to suppress pre-pulses, adding to complexity and limiting the scalability. Instead of removing the pre-pulse, the TIFRH group demonstrate a method to harness its effects.
In their experiments, the pre-pulse sculpts a hollow cavity in a liquid microdroplet, creating a low-density plasma. This becomes a fertile ground where laser pulses are absorbed to drive a pair of gigantic waves in the plasma. These waves tend to rapidly collapse as they travel, releasing bursts of energetic electrons. These electrons are eventually responsible to drive efficient acceleration of protons to hundreds of kilovolts. Operating at a thousand times per second and employing millijoule energy laser pulses, approach enables efficient ion acceleration. Without requiring extreme laser intensities or suppression of parasitic pre-pulse, this approach paves the way for high-repetition-rate laser-driven ion accelerators on university lab table tops.
Publication reference: S.V.Rahul, R.Sabui et. al. Phys. Rev. Research 7, 013240 (2025)
END
High energy proton accelerator on a table-top — enabled by university class lasers
2025-05-17
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Life, death and mowing – study reveals Britain’s poetic obsession with the humble lawnmower
2025-05-16
University of Cambridge media release
Life, death and mowing – study reveals Britain’s poetic obsession with the humble lawnmower
UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 00:01AM (UK TIME) ON SATURDAY 17TH MAY 2025
Over the last half-century, British poets including Philip Larkin and Andrew Motion have driven a ‘lawnmower poetry microgenre’, using the machine to explore childhood, masculinity, violence, addiction, mortality and much more, new research shows.
The study, published today in Critical Quarterly, argues that the tradition goes back to the 17th-century poet Andrew Marvell who used mowing – with a scythe – to comment ...
Ochsner Transplant Institute’s kidney program achieves ELITE Status
2025-05-16
NEW ORLEANS – Ochsner Health proudly shares its kidney transplant program, part of the Ochsner Transplant Institute, has been awarded ELITE Status within the credentialed Programs of Excellence transplant network by INTERLINK COE Networks & Programs. ELITE Status is awarded to only a select few programs nationwide certifying delivery of superior transplant care.
To earn this level of recognition, programs demonstrate superior results and exceptional performance based on a range of validated, risk-adjusted metrics. Programs with this designation achieve an INTERLINK Performance Model score statistically ...
Gender differences in primary care physician earnings and outcomes under Medicare Advantage value-based payment
2025-05-16
About The Study: In this cohort study, women primary care physicians in value-based payment models had equal or better quality outcomes and higher value-based earnings compared to men in their practice groups. These results substantiate prior evidence that women physicians perform better on process and outcome measures, yet receive incommensurate patient ratings. The reversal of the gender gap under value-based payment is likely due to fewer emergency department visits and hospitalizations among women primary care physicians’ patients and may in turn reflect better alignment of value-based models to practice patterns more ...
Can mindfulness combat anxiety?
2025-05-16
By Chris Woolston
If you’re anxious about work, finances, the state of the world, or anything else, you might try a moment of mindfulness. Paying close attention to the present moment without judgment — the basic idea behind all mindfulness techniques — can help calm anxiety and improve focus, said Resh Gupta, a postdoctoral research associate with the Mindfulness Science and Practice research cluster.
“A lot of research has shown that mindfulness can reduce anxiety symptoms,” she said.
The calming power of mindfulness is well-known to people ...
Could personality tests help make bipolar disorder treatment more precise?
2025-05-16
People with cancer, heart disease and other conditions have come to expect treatments that their medical teams “personalize” just for them, based on tests.
But care for mental health conditions hasn’t gotten to that point yet.
Now, a new study suggests that it might be possible to personalize care for people with bipolar disorder, using the results of detailed personality tests.
The research finds that such tests might help identify people who have certain combinations of personality traits ...
Largest genomic study of veterans with metastatic prostate cancer reveals critical insights for precision medicine
2025-05-16
TAMPA, Fla. (May 16, 2025) — In the largest clinical genomic profiling study of non-Hispanic Black men with metastatic prostate cancer to date, researchers from Moffitt Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, University of California Los Angeles and the Veterans Affairs (VA) National Precision Oncology Program found key differences in tumor biology between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic white veterans, but similar survival outcomes when both groups had equal access to care.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, analyzed data from more than 5,000 U.S. ...
UCF’s ‘bridge doctor’ combines imaging, neural network to efficiently evaluate concrete bridges’ safety
2025-05-16
Necati Catbas doesn’t hold a medical degree, but the UCF engineering professor is more than qualified to diagnose the health of bridges using a combination of emerging technologies.
Catbas collaborated with his former civil engineering student Marwan Debees ’23PhD, who now works as a NASA Bridge Program manager, on newly published research that details how infrared thermography, high-definition imaging and neural network analysis can combine to make concrete bridge inspections more efficient.
Catbas and Debees are hopeful that their findings, recently published in the Transportation Research Record, can be leveraged by engineers ...
Scientists discover key gene impacts liver energy storage, affecting metabolic disease risk
2025-05-16
PHILADELPHIA (May 16, 2025) – A new study published in Science Advances reveals that a single gene plays a big role in how the liver stores energy, a process that's critical for overall health and for managing diseases like type 2 diabetes. Led by Penn Nursing’s Kate Townsend Creasy, PhD, Assistant Professor of Nutrition Science in the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences, the research focuses on the PPP1R3B gene. This gene tells the liver how to handle energy: store it as glycogen (a form of sugar) or triglycerides (a type of fat).
The research team ...
Study finds that individual layers of synthetic materials can collaborate for greater impact
2025-05-16
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Millions of years of evolution have enabled some marine animals to grow complex protective shells composed of multiple layers that work together to dissipate physical stress. In a new study, engineers have found a way to mimic the behavior of this type of layered material, such as seashell nacre, by programming individual layers of synthetic material to work collaboratively under stress. The new material design is poised to enhance energy-absorbing systems such as wearable bandages and car bumpers with multistage ...
Researchers find elevated levels of mercury in Colorado mountain wetlands
2025-05-16
Climate change is melting glaciers and permafrost in the mountains outside of Boulder, Colorado, exposing rocks and freeing up minerals containing sulfate, a form of sulfur, to flow downstream into local watersheds.
CIRES researchers studied the impacts of sulfate in mountain wetlands and confirmed that elevated levels can increase methylmercury, a potent neurotoxin that accumulates up the food chain and can lead to a wide range of health concerns.
“Very little research has looked at methylmercury production in high-elevation wetlands,” said ...