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Abstract The construction of a novel Laser-driven Light Ions Acceleration Line (L3IA) is progressing rapidly towards the operation, following the recent upgrade of the ILIL-PW laser facility. The Line was designed on the basis of the pilot experimental activity carried out earlier at the same facility to define design parameters and to identify main components including target control and diagnostic equipment, also in combination with the numerical simulations for the optimization of laser and target parameters. A preliminary set of data was acquired following the successful commissioning of the laser system > 100 TW upgrade. Data include output from a range of different ion detectors and optical diagnostics installed for qualification of the laser–target interaction. An overview of the results is given along with a description of the relevant upgraded laser facility and features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The divergent and broadband proton beams produced by the target normal sheath acceleration mechanism provide the unique opportunity to probe, in a point-projection imaging scheme, the dynamics of the transient electric and magnetic fields produced during laser-plasma interactions. Commonly such experimental setup entails two intense laser beams, where the interaction produced by one beam is probed with the protons produced by the second. We present here experimental studies of the ultra-fast charge dynamics along a wire connected to laser irradiated target carried out by employing a ‘self’ proton probing arrangement – i.e. by connecting the wire to the target generating the probe protons. The experimental data shows that an electromagnetic pulse carrying a significant amount of charge is launched along the wire, which travels as a unified pulse of 10s of ps duration with a velocity close to speed of light. The experimental capabilities and the analysis procedure of this specific type of proton probing technique are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We briefly summarize the contributions presented during the working group 2 (WG2) sessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents the concept of transport and filtering of laser-accelerated proton pulses used for the first cell irradiation experiments performed with the Dresden 150TW laser DRACO. Based on a simple non-focusing magnetic dipole equipped with two apertures the concept makes use of an energy dependent angular asymmetry of the proton spectra. For micron thin target foils protons of interest with energies above 7MeV are observed to be significantly offset from target normal where low energy emission is dominantly centered. As the effect can be controlled via the target rotation with respect to the incoming light, it can be used to optimize the transport efficiency for high energy protons while simultaneously suppressing background radiation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]