Graphene under extreme electromagnetic field: energetic ion acceleration by direct irradiation of ultra intense laser on few layer suspended graphene

Atomically thin graphene is a transparent, highly electrically and thermally conductive, light-weight, and the strongest material. To date, graphene has found applications in many aspects including transport, medicine, electronics, energy, defense, and desalination. We demonstrate another disruptive application of graphene in the field of laser-ion acceleration, in which the unique features of graphene play indispensable role. Laser driven ion sources have been widely investigated for pure science, plasma diagnostics, medical and engineering applications. Recent developments of laser technologies allow us to access radiation regime of laser ion acceleration with relatively thin targets. However, the thinner target is the less durable and can be easily broken by the pedestal or prepulse through impact and heating prior to the main laser arrival. One of the solutions to avoid this is plasma mirror, which is a surface plasma created by the foot of the laser pulse on an optically transparent material working as an effective mirror only for the main laser peak. So far diamond like carbon (DLC) is used to explore the ion acceleration in extremely thin target regime (< 10 nm) with plasma mirrors, and it is necessary to use plasma mirrors even in moderately thin target regime (10-100 nm) to realize energetic ion generation. However, firstly DLC is not 2D material, and therefore, it is very expensive to make it thin and flat. Moreover, graphene is stronger than diamond at extremely thin regime, and much more reasonable for mass-production. Furthermore, installing and operating plasma mirrors at high repetition rate is also costly. Here we show another direct solution using graphene as the thinnest and strongest target ever made. We develop a facile transfer method to fabricate large-area suspended graphene (LSG) as target for laser ion acceleration with precision down to a single atomic layer. Direct irradiation of the LSG targets with an ultra intense laser generates energetic carbons and protons evidently showing the durability of graphene without plasma mirror. This extends the new frontier of science on graphene under extreme electromagnetic field, such as energy frontier and nuclear fusion.

Analysis of the distribution of BAD generated during the normal penetration of a variable cross-section EFP on RHA

The purpose of this study is to analyse how the thickness of Rolled Homogeneous Armor (RHA) and impact velocity of an Explosively Formed Projectile (EFP) influence the middle mass behind-armor debris (BAD) when a variable cross-section EFP penetrates RHA normally. Numerical simulation is adopted, the thickness of RHA varies from 10mm to 70mm, and the impact velocity of the EFP varies from 1650m/s to 1860m/s. The results indicate that: (1) when the impact velocity of the EFP is 1650m/s and the thickness of RHA varies from 10mm to 70mm, p1g of the RHA and EFP decreases with increasing H0. The thin target could be used to produce a large proportion of the middle mass BAD from RHA (including BAD from the EFP and BAD from the RHA and EFP). (2) When the impact velocity of the EFP varies from 1650m/s to 1860m/s and the thickness of the RHA is 40mm, p1g of the RHA is less than 50%, p1g of the EFP is more than 70%, and p1g of the RHA and EFP is more than 50%.

The Investigation on the Dark Sector at the PADME Experiment

In this paper, we present the design and expected performance of the various detectors of the PADME experiment. The experiment design has been optimized for the detection of the final state photons produced along with a “Dark Photon”, decaying to invisible particles, in the annihilation a of 550 MeV positron with an atomic electron of a thin target. The PADME experiment has been built in a new dedicated experimental hall at the Beam Test Facility (BTF) of the INFN Frascati National Laboratories and has been taking data since the third quarter of 2018.