Time-of-flight methodologies with large-area diamond detectors for ion characterization in laser-driven experiments

The time-of-flight technique coupled with semiconductor detectors is a powerful instrument to provide real-time characterization of ions accelerated because of laser-matter interactions. Nevertheless, the presence of strong electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) generated during the interactions can severely hinder its employment. For this reason, the diagnostic system must be designed to have high EMP shielding. Here we present a new advanced prototype of detector, developed at ENEA-Centro Ricerche Frascati (Italy), with a large-area (15 mm x 15 mm) polycrystalline diamond sensor having 150 mu m thickness. The tailored detector design and testing ensure high sensitivity and, thanks to the fast temporal response, high-energy resolution of the reconstructed ion spectrum. The detector was offline calibrated and then successfully tested during an experimental campaign carried out at the PHELIX laser facility (E-L similar to 100 J, tau(L) = 750 fs, I-L similar to (1-2.5) x 10(19) W/cm(2)) at GSI (Germany). The high rejection to EMP fields was demonstrated and suitable calibrated spectra of the accelerated protons were obtained.