Controlled direct acceleration of electrons in very strong laser fields can offer a path towards ultra-compact accelerators. Such a direct acceleration requires rectification and decoupling of the ...

The acceleration of a free electron by a laser is a long-time goal of solid-state physicists. Physicists have established that an electron beam can be accelerated by a laser in free space. This has ...

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin's School of Engineering have built a powerful new machine that lets us watch precisely what happens when tiny particles—far smaller than a grain of sand—hit a ...

Scientists have developed a groundbreaking method for generating fast, bright proton beams using a high-repetition-rate laser-plasma accelerator. This work, published in Nature Communications, ...

Osaka University-led research team achieves first realization of laser-generated energetic ions. Experimental setup with the large-area suspended graphene target. Click for info. Laser-driven ion ...

The interaction between lasers and matter is at the forefront of new investigations into fundamental physics as well as forming a potential bedrock for new technological innovations. One of the ...

If Angus MacGyver was a particle physicist, he might face a challenge like this: Take a femtosecond laser and a fused quartz grating and make the world's most powerful particle accelerator. Despite ...

An international research team has used carbon nanotubes to enhance the efficiency of laser acceleration, bringing table-top sources for carbon-ion therapy a step closer to reality. Therapeutic ion ...

Physicists in Japan and Taiwan have developed a compact, highly efficient method of generating high-energy ion beams by firing a laser pulse at a target made from two layers of graphene. Led by ...

Electrically charged particles are relatively easy to accelerate using electric and magnetic fields. Neutral particles cannot be steered in the same way, which is a bit disappointing, since they are ...