Related papers: Cost-Optimal Laser-Accelerated Lightsails
Orbital data centers are being evaluated as solar-powered compute constellations and relay-integrated processing platforms. Their feasibility is not set by orbital solar flux alone, but by simultaneous closure of photovoltaic generation,…
A propulsion concept in which a spacecraft interacts with high-velocity pellets and the interstellar medium is proposed. The pellets are slower than the spacecraft and are accelerated backwards as they are overtaken, imparting a forward…
If AI is a foundational general-purpose technology, we should anticipate that demand for AI compute -- and energy -- will continue to grow. The Sun is by far the largest energy source in our solar system, and thus it warrants consideration…
Relativistic temperature electrons higher than 0.5 MeV are generated typically with laser intensities of about 10$^{18}$ W/cm$^{2}$. Their generation with high repetition rate lasers that operate at non-relativistic intensities…
Ion acceleration from gaseous targets driven by relativistic-intensity lasers was demonstrated as early as the late 90s, yet most of the experiments conducted to date have involved picosecond-duration, Nd:glass lasers operating at low…
Laser-plasma acceleration (LPA) is a compact technique to accelerate electron bunches to highly relativistic energies, making it a promising candidate to power radiation sources for industrial or medical applications. We report on the…
Plasma wakefield accelerators are capable of sustaining gigavolt-per-centimeter accelerating fields, surpassing the electric breakdown threshold in state-of-the-art accelerator modules by 3-4 orders of magnitude. Beam-driven wakefields…
The Lunar CRater Observations and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission impacted a spent Centaur rocket stage into a permanently shadowed region near the lunar south pole. The Sheperding Spacecraft (SSC) separated \sim9 hours before impact and…
Proton (and ion) cancer therapy has proven to be an extremely effective even supe-rior method of treatment for some tumors 1-4. A major problem, however, lies in the cost of the particle accelerator facilities; high procurement costs…
Limiting climate change to within the 2 {\deg}C limit requires net zero emissions of CO2 by 2050. However, the window of opportunity is closing fast. Geoengineering as the intentional and large-scale manipulation of the environment and in…
The scientific mission of ESTCube-1, launched in May 2013, is to measure the Electric solar wind sail (E-sail) force in orbit. The experiment is planned to push forward the development of E-sail, a propulsion method recently invented at the…
A new scheme of proton acceleration from a laser-driven near-critical-density plasma is proposed. Plasma with a tailored density profile allows a two-stage acceleration of protons. The protons are pre-accelerated in the laser-driven…
Even though sunlight is by far the most abundant renewable energy source available to humanity, its dilute and variable nature has kept efficient ways to collect, store, and distribute this energy tantalisingly out of reach. Turning the…
The radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) of charged particles has been considered a challenging task in laser particle acceleration. Laser-driven proton/ion acceleration has attracted considerable interests due to its underlying physics…
Laser-driven ion accelerators have the advantages of compact size, high density, and short bunch duration over conventional accelerators. Nevertheless, it is still challenging to generate ion beams with quasi-monoenergetic peak and low…
High-quality micro-lasers are key ingredients in non-linear optics, communication, sensing and low-threshold solar-pumped lasers. However, such micro-lasers exhibit negligible absorption of free-space broadband pump light. Recently, this…
At the far reaches of the outer Solar System, the ice giants remain the last class of planets yet to be studied using orbiters. The 2023-2032 Planetary Science Decadal Survey has underscored the importance of the ice giants in understanding…
Radiation Pressure Acceleration relies on high intensity laser pulse interacting with solid target to obtain high maximum energy, quasimonoenergetic ion beams. Either extremely high power laser pulses or tight focusing of laser radiation is…
Laser-plasma technology promises a drastic reduction of the size of high energy electron accelerators. It could make free electron lasers available to a broad scientific community, and push further the limits of electron accelerators for…
This paper proposes a high-performance and energy-efficient optical near-sensor accelerator for vision applications, called Lightator. Harnessing the promising efficiency offered by photonic devices, Lightator features innovative…