• A. Mostacci, M. Migliorati, L. Palumbo
  Rome University La Sapienza, Roma
• D. Alesini, P. Antici
  INFN/LNF, Frascati (Roma)
• L. Picardi, C. Ronsivalle
  ENEA C.R. Frascati, Frascati (Roma)

Protons generated by the irradiation of a thin metal foil by a high-intensity short-pulse laser have shown to posses interesting characteristics in terms of energy, emittance, current and pulse duration. They might therefore become in the next future a competitive source to conventional proton sources. Previous theoretical and numerical studies already demonstrated the possibility of an efficient coupling between laser-plasma acceleration of protons with traditional RF based beam-line accelerator techniques. This hybrid proton accelerator would therefore benefit from the good properties of the laser-based source and from the flexibility and know-how of beam handling as given from RF based accelerator structure. The proton beam parameters of the source have been obtained from published laser interaction experimental results and are given as input to the numerical study by conventional accelerator design tools. In this paper we discuss recent results in the optimization and design of the such hybrid schemes in the context of proton accelerators for medical treatments.

• P. Antici, A. Mostacci
  INFN/LNF, Frascati (Roma)
• C. Benedetti
  Bologna University, Bologna
• M. Migliorati, L. Palumbo
  Rome University La Sapienza, Roma

Electron beams produced by laser-plasma interaction are attracting the interest of the conventional accelerator community. In particular Laser-accelerated electrons are particularly interesting as source, considering their high initial energy and their strong beam current. Moreover, the advantages of using laser-plasma electron beam can be expressed in terms of size and cost of the global accelerating infrastructure. However, improvements are still necessary since, currently, the many laser-accelerated beams are characterized by a large energy spread and a high beam divergence that degrades quickly the electron beam properties and makes those sources not suitable as a replacement of conventional accelerators. In this paper, we report on the progress of the study related to capture, shape and transport of laser generated electrons by means of tracking codes. Our study has focused on laser-generated electrons obtained nowadays by conventional multi hundred TW laser systems and on numerical predictions. We analyze different lattice structures, working on the optimization of the capture and transport of laser-accelerated electrons. Results and open problems are shown and discussed.