The Laser-Plasma Ion Accelerator which is a part of the ELIMAIA beamline has been successfully commissioned in the E4 target area using the L3-HAPLS laser at intensities of 1021 W/cm2. This is a core section of the ELIMAIA beamline that will be offered to expert users from the laser-plasma community. Its successful operation is also of key importance for the injection of laser-accelerated ion beams into the ELIMED section that will be commissioned in 2022 and aims to offer ion beams with unique features to a broader user community for multidisciplinary applications.
The ELIMAIA beamline has been developed at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IoP) in Prague, and the ELIMED beam transport and dosimetry section has been developed at the National Laboratories of Southern Italy of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (LNS-INFN) in Catania. ELIMAIA represents a key technology of the entire ELI Beamlines facility since it will enable users to carry out research in multidisciplinary fields, including irradiation of biological samples with short bunches of protons/ions accelerated using the laser system L3-HAPLS.
“This is an amazing result coming from several years of meticulous work and continuous dedication of both experimental and laser teams at ELI Beamlines. I have conceived ELIMAIA more than ten years ago and finally I can see this project materialized in a stable proton beam generated and characterized on target at high repetition rate,” says Daniele Margarone, leader of the Department of Ion Acceleration and Applications of High Energy Particles.
ELIMAIA-ELIMED is a technology that will be offered to users from a broad research community (Physics, Biology, Medicine, Chemistry, Material Sciences and Engineering), including those interested in future applications of laser-driven ions in cancer therapy.
