Experimental evidence of production of directional muons from a laser-wakefield accelerator

作者：L. Calvin, E. Gerstmayr, Chris Arran, L. Tudor, Thomas H. Foster, K Fleck, B. Bergmann, D. Doria, B. Kettle, H. Maguire, V. Malka, Petr Mánek, S. P. D. Mangles, P. McKenna, R. E. Mihai, S Popa, C. P. Ridgers, Jyotirup Sarma, Petr Smolyanskiy, R. Wilson, Robert M. Deas, G. Sarri · 发表于：Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1088/1361-6587/ae4d05 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena、Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics、Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae

Abstract We report on experimental evidence of the generation of directional muons from a laser-wakefield accelerator driven by a PW-class laser. The muons were generated following the interaction of a GeV-scale high-charge electron beam with a 2 cm-thick Pb target and were detected using a Timepix3 detector placed behind a suitable shielding configuration. Data analysis indicates a ( 99.1 ± 0.5 ) % confidence of muon detection over noise, in excellent agreement with numerical modelling. Extrapolation of the experimental setup to higher electron energies and charges suggests the potential to guide and separate from noise approximately 10 4 muons s −1 onto cm 2 -scale areas for applications using a 10 Hz PW laser. These results demonstrate the possibility of generating and transporting directional muon beams using high-power lasers and establish a foundation for the systematic application of laser-driven high-energy muon beams.