Coupling Laser-based and Conventional Accelerators

Being at the interface between conventional accelerator technology and novel acceleration concepts using high-power laser systems, HI-Jena, as part of the LIGHT collaboration (Laser Ion Generation, Handling and Transport) is involved in research to theoretically, numerically and experimentally investigate how an ion pulse, generated at a laser-plasma interaction, for example at the PHELIX laser system, can be injected into the beamline of a conventional ion accelerator, for example at GSI, and subsequently be accelerated further. In a cooperation of HI-Jena, GSI and HZDR Hemholtz Centres, and the universities of Frankfurt and Darmstadt, this long-discussed idea can now be investigated for the first time. Questions of ion pulse generation and forming, their transport from the laser target into to beamline and diagnostics are being researched.