Postacceleration Of Laser‐Generated High Energy Protons Through Conventional Accelerator Linacs

The post‐acceleration of laser‐generated protons through conventional drift tube linear accelerators has been simulated with the particle code Parmela. The proton source is generated on the rear surface of a target irradiated by an high‐intensity (1019 W⋅cm−2) short‐pulse (350 fs) laser and focused by a microlens that allows selecting collimated protons at 7±0.1 MeV with rms unnormalized emittance of 0.180 mm.mrad. The simulations show that protons can be accelerated by one drift tube linac tank to more than 14 MeV with unnormalized emittance growth of 8 in x and 22.6 in y directions when considering a total proton charge of 0.112 mA. This result shows for the first time that coupling between laser‐plasma accelerators with traditional accelerators is possible, allowing a luminosity gain for the final beam.