Tuning the electron energy by controlling the density perturbation position in laser plasma accelerators

A density perturbation produced in an underdense plasma was used to improve the quality of electron bunches produced in the laser-plasma wakefield acceleration scheme. Quasi-monoenergetic electrons were generated by controlled injection in the longitudinal density gradients of the density perturbation. By tuning the position of the density perturbation along the laser propagation axis, a fine control of the electron energy from a mean value of 60 MeV to 120 MeV has been demonstrated with a relative energy-spread of 15 +/- 3.6%, divergence of 4 +/- 0.8 mrad and charge of 6 +/- 1.8 pC.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

A bremsstrahlung gamma-ray source based on stable ionization injection of electrons into a laser wakefield accelerator

Laser wakefield acceleration permits the generation of ultra-short, high-brightness relativistic electron beams on a millimeter scale. While those features are of interest for many applications, the source remains constraint by the poor stability of the electron injection process. Here we present results on injection and acceleration of electrons in pure nitrogen and argon. We observe stable, continuous ionization-induced injection of electrons into the wakefield for laser powers exceeding a threshold of 7 TW. The beam charge scales approximately linear with the laser energy and is limited by beam loading. For 40 TW laser pulses we measure a maximum charge of almost 1 nC per shot, originating mostly from electrons of less than 10 MeV energy. The relatively low energy, the high charge and its stability make this source well-suited for applications such as non-destructive testing. Hence, we demonstrate the production of energetic radiation via bremsstrahlung conversion at 1 Hz repetition rate. In accordance with Geant4 Monte-Carlo simulations, we measure a gamma-ray source size of less than 100 microns for a 0.5 mm tantalum converter placed at 2 mm from the accelerator exit. Furthermore we present radiographs of image quality indicators

A Bright Spatially-Coherent Compact X-ray Synchrotron Source

Each successive generation of x-ray machines has opened up new frontiers in science, such as the first radiographs and the determination of the structure of DNA. State-of-the-art x-ray sources can now produce coherent high brightness keV x-rays and promise a new revolution in imaging complex systems on nanometre and femtosecond scales. Despite the demand, only a few dedicated synchrotron facilities exist worldwide, partially due the size and cost of conventional (accelerator) technology. Here we demonstrate the use of a recently developed compact laser-plasma accelerator to produce a well-collimated, spatially-coherent, intrinsically ultrafast source of hard x-rays. This method reduces the size of the synchrotron source from the tens of metres to centimetre scale, accelerating and wiggling a high electron charge simultaneously. This leads to a narrow-energy spread electron beam and x-ray source that is >1000 times brighter than previously reported plasma wiggler and thus has the potential to facilitate a myriad of uses across the whole spectrum of light-source applications.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Compton Scattering X-Ray Sources Driven by Laser Wakefield Acceleration

Recent laser wakefield acceleration experiments have demonstrated the generation of femtosecond, nano-Coulomb, low emittance, nearly monokinetic relativistic electron bunches of sufficient quality to produce bright, tunable, ultrafast x-rays via Compton scattering. Design parameters for a proof-of-concept experiment are presented using a three-dimensional Compton scattering code and a laser-plasma interaction particle-in-cell code modeling the wakefield acceleration process; x-ray fluxes exceeding 10{sup 22} s{sup -1} are predicted, with a peak brightness > 10{sup 20} photons/(mm{sup 2} x mrad{sup 2} x s x 0.1% bandwidth)

Synchrotron x-ray radiation from laser wakefield accelerated electron beams in a plasma channel

Synchrotron x-ray radiation from laser wakefield accelerated electron beams was characterized at the HERCULES facility of the University of Michigan. A mono-energetic electron beam with energy up to 400 MeV was observed in the interaction of an ultra-short laser pulse with a super-sonic gas jet target. The experiments were performed at a peak intensity of 5×1019 W/cm2 by using an adaptive optic. The accelerated electron beam undergoes a so called "betatron" oscillation in an ion channel, where plasma electrons have been expelled by the laser ponderomotive force, and, therefore, emits synchrotron radiation. We observe broad synchrotron x-ray radiation extending up to 30 keV. We find that this radiation is emitted in a beam with a divergence angle as small as 12×4 mrad2 and can have a source size smaller than 3 microns and a peak brightness of 1022 photons/mm2/mrad2/second/0.1% bandwidth, which is comparable to currently existing 3rd generation conventional light sources. This opens up the possibility of using laser-produced "betatron" sources for many applications that currently require conventional synchrotron sources.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/85402/1/jpconf10_244_042026.pd

Genomic instability in human cancer: molecular insights and opportunities for therapeutic attack and prevention through diet and nutrition

Genomic instability can initiate cancer, augment progression, and influence the overall prognosis of the affected patient. Genomic instability arises from many different pathways, such as telomere damage, centrosome amplification, epigenetic modifications, and DNA damage from endogenous and exogenous sources, and can be perpetuating, or limiting, through the induction of mutations or aneuploidy, both enabling and catastrophic. Many cancer treatments induce DNA damage to impair cell division on a global scale but it is accepted that personalized treatments, those that are tailored to the particular patient and type of cancer, must also be developed. In this review, we detail the mechanisms from which genomic instability arises and can lead to cancer, as well as treatments and measures that prevent genomic instability or take advantage of the cellular defects caused by genomic instability. In particular, we identify and discuss five priority targets against genomic instability: (1) prevention of DNA damage; (2) enhancement of DNA repair; (3) targeting deficient DNA repair; (4) impairing centrosome clustering; and, (5) inhibition of telomerase activity. Moreover, we highlight vitamin D and B, selenium, carotenoids, PARP inhibitors, resveratrol, and isothiocyanates as priority approaches against genomic instability. The prioritized target sites and approaches were cross validated to identify potential synergistic effects on a number of important areas of cancer biology

Examining the role of transfer coupling in sub-barrier fusion of ⁴⁶,⁵⁰Ti+¹²⁴Sn

Background: The presence of neutron transfer channels with positive Q values can enhance sub-barrier fusion cross sections. Recent measurements of the fusion excitation functions for 58Ni +132,124Sn found that the fusion enhancement due to the influence of neutron transfer is smaller than that in 40Ca +132,124Sn although the Q values for multineutron transfer are comparable. Purpose: To investigate the differences observed between the fusion of Sn + Ni and Sn + Ca. Methods: Fusion excitation functions for 46,50Ti +124Sn have been measured at energies near the Coulomb barrier. Results: A comparison of the barrier distributions for 46Ti +124Sn and 40Ca +124Sn shows that the 40Ca +124Sn system has a barrier strength resulting from the coupling to the very collective octupole state in 40Ca at an energy significantly lower than the uncoupled barrier. Conclusions: The large sub-barrier fusion enhancement in 40Ca induced reactions is attributed to both couplings to neutron transfer and inelastic excitation, with the octupole vibration of 40Ca playing a major role.Research at ANU was supported by the Australian Research Council Grants DP130101569, FT120100760, DP140101337, FL110100098, DE140100784 and by National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) for the operation of the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility

Integrating geographical information in the Linked Digital Earth

Many progresses have been made since the Digital Earth notion was envisioned thirteen years ago. However, the mechanism for integrating geographic information into the Digital Earth is still quite limited. In this context, we have developed a process to generate, integrate and publish geospatial Linked Data from several Spanish National data-sets. These data-sets are related to four Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) themes, specifically with Administrative units, Hydrography, Statistical units, and Meteorology. Our main goal is to combine different sources (heterogeneous, multidisciplinary, multitemporal, multiresolution, and multilingual) using Linked Data principles. This goal allows the overcoming of current problems of information integration and driving geographical information toward the next decade scenario, that is, ?Linked Digital Earth.