We present the results of the first commissioning phase of the short-focal-length area of the Apollon laser facility (located in Saclay, France), which was performed with the first available laser beam (F2), scaled to a nominal power of 1 PW. Under the conditions that were tested, this beam delivered on-target pulses of 10 J average energy and 24 fs duration. Several diagnostics were fielded to assess the performance of the facility. The on-target focal spot and its spatial stability, the temporal intensity profile prior to the main pulse, and the resulting density gradient formed at the irradiated side of solid targets have been thoroughly characterized, with the goal of helping users design future experiments. Emissions of energetic electrons, ions, and electromagnetic radiation were recorded, showing good laser-to-target coupling efficiency and an overall performance comparable to that of similar international facilities. This will be followed in 2022 by a further commissioning stage at the multi-petawatt level.

Contemporary ultraintense, short-pulse laser systems provide extremely compact setups for the production of high-flux neutron beams, such as those required for nondestructive probing of dense matter, research on neutron-induced damage in fusion devices or laboratory astrophysics studies. Here, by coupling particle-in-cell and Monte Carlo numerical simulations, we examine possible strategies to optimise neutron sources from ion-induced nuclear reactions using 1-PW, 20-fs-class laser systems. To improve the ion acceleration, the laser-irradiated targets are chosen to be ultrathin solid foils, either standing alone or preceded by a plasma layer of near-critical density to enhance the laser focusing. We compare the performance of these single- and double-layer targets, and determine their optimum parameters in terms of energy and angular spectra of the accelerated ions. These are then sent into a converter to generate neutrons via nuclear reactions on beryllium and lead nuclei. Overall, we identify configurations that result in neutron yields as high as $$\sim 10^{10}\,{\mathrm{n}}\,{\mathrm{sr}}^{-1}$$∼ 10 10 n sr - 1 in $$\sim 1$$∼ 1 -cm-thick converters or instantaneous neutron fluxes above $$10^{23}\,{\mathrm{n}}\,{\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}\,{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$$10 23 n cm - 2 s - 1 at the backside of $$\lesssim 100$$≲ 100 - $$\upmu$$μ m-thick converters. Considering a realistic repetition rate of one laser shot per minute, the corresponding time-averaged neutron yields are predicted to reach values ( $$\gtrsim 10^7\,{\mathrm{n}} \,{\mathrm{sr}}^{-1}\,{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$$≳ 10 7 n sr - 1 s - 1 ) well above the current experimental record, and this even with a mere thin foil as a primary target. A further increase in the time-averaged yield up to above $$10^8\,{\mathrm{sr}}^{-1}\,{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$$10 8 sr - 1 s - 1 is foreseen using double-layer targets.

The temporal profile of X-ray betatron radiation was theoretically studied for the parameters available with current laser systems. Characteristics of the betatron radiation were investigated for three different configurations of laser wakefield acceleration: typical self-injection regime and optical injection regime with perpendicularly crossed injection and drive beams, both achievable with 100 TW class laser, and ionization injection regime with a sub-10 TW laser system that was experimentally verified. Constructed spectrograms demonstrate that X-ray pulse durations are in the order of few tens of femtoseconds and the optical injection case reveals the possibility of generating X-ray pulses as short as 2.6 fs. The X-ray pulse duration depends mainly on the length of the trapped electron bunch as the emitted photons copropagate with the bunch with nearly the same velocity. These spectrograms were calculated using a novel simplified method based on the theory of Liénard-Wiechert potentials. It takes advantage of the fact that the electron oscillates transversally in the accelerating plasma wave in the wiggler regime and, thus, emits radiation almost exclusively in the turning points of its sine-like trajectory. Therefore, there are only few very narrow time intervals, which contribute significantly to the emission of radiation, while the rest can be neglected. These narrow time intervals are determined from the electron trajectories calculated using particle-in-cell simulations and the power spectrum at given point in far field is computed for each electron using the Fourier transform. Spectrograms of the emitted radiation are constructed by summing contributions of individual particles, since the incoherent nature of the electron bunch is assumed.

Laser-driven neutron sources could offer a promising alternative to those based on conventional accelerator technologies in delivering compact beams of high brightness and short duration. We examine this through particle-in-cell and Monte Carlo simulations that model, respectively, the laser acceleration of protons from thin-foil targets and their subsequent conversion into neutrons in secondary lead targets. Laser parameters relevant to the 0.5 PW LMJ-PETAL and 0.6–6 PW Apollon systems are considered. Owing to its high intensity, the 20-fs-duration 0.6 PW Apollon laser is expected to accelerate protons up to above 100 MeV, thereby unlocking efficient neutron generation via spallation reactions. As a result, despite a 30-fold lower pulse energy than the LMJ-PETAL laser, the 0.6 PW Apollon laser should perform comparably well both in terms of neutron yield and flux. Notably, we predict that very compact neutron pulses, of ∼10 ps duration and ∼100 μm spot size, can be released provided the lead convertor target is thin enough (∼100 μm). These sources are characterized by extreme fluxes, of the order of 10²³ n cm⁻² s⁻¹, and even ten times higher when using the 6 PW Apollon laser. Such values surpass those currently achievable at large-scale accelerator-based neutron sources (∼10¹⁶ n cm⁻² s⁻¹), or reported from previous laser experiments using low-Z converters (∼10¹⁸ n cm⁻² s⁻¹). By showing that such laser systems can produce neutron pulses significantly brighter than existing sources, our findings open a path toward attractive novel applications, such as flash neutron radiography and laboratory studies of heavy-ion nucleosynthesis.

High-power laser systems have opened new frontiers in scientific research and have revolutionized various scientific fields, offering unprecedented capabilities for understanding fundamental physics and allowing unique applications. This paper details the successful commissioning of the 1 PW experimental area at the Extreme Light Infrastructure–Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) facility in Romania, using both of the available laser arms. The experimental setup featured a short focal parabolic mirror to accelerate protons through the target normal sheath acceleration mechanism. Detailed experiments were conducted using various metallic and diamond-like carbon targets to investigate the dependence of the proton acceleration on different laser parameters. Furthermore, the paper discusses the critical role of the laser temporal profile in optimizing proton acceleration, supported by hydrodynamic simulations that are correlated with experimental outcomes. The findings underscore the potential of the ELI-NP facility to advance research in laser–plasma physics and contribute significantly to high-energy physics applications. The results of this commissioning establish a strong foundation for experiments by future users.

Laser-plasma electron accelerators can be used to produce high-intensity x-rays, as electrons accelerated in wakefields emit radiation due to betatron oscillations. Such x-ray sources inherit the features of the electron beam; sub-femtosecond electron bunches produce betatron sources of the same duration, which in turn allow probing matter on ultrashort time scales. In this paper we show, via Particle-in-Cell simulations, that attosecond electron bunches can be obtained using low-energy, ultra-short laser beams both in the self-injection and the controlled injection regimes at low plasma densities. However, only in the controlled regime does the electron injection lead to a stable, isolated attosecond electron bunch. Such ultrashort electron bunches are shown to emit attosecond x-ray bursts with high brilliance.