In situ ions energy spectrum measurement using a diamond detector in laser-accelerated ions–plasma interaction

Intense ion beams driven by ultra-high-power lasers are very interesting in terms of their elementary physics and potential applications. We introduce a new experimental result that the energy spectra of laser-accelerated protons and carbon ions are measured in situ by time-of-flight method using a diamond detector. An obvious interference on the detector system from the electromagnetic pulse is found and we propose a mathematical processing method to improve the distinguishability of ions in TOF. The experimental evidence of the energy loss of protons in dense plasma is presented and the comparison with the ex situ energy loss result is given too.