{"id":26443,"date":"2025-06-03T12:10:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T06:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=26443"},"modified":"2025-06-03T12:10:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T06:25:22","slug":"tabletop-particle-blaster-how-tiny-nozzles-and-lasers-could-replace-giant-accelerators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/tabletop-particle-blaster-how-tiny-nozzles-and-lasers-could-replace-giant-accelerators\/","title":{"rendered":"Tabletop particle blaster: How tiny nozzles and lasers could replace giant accelerators"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Conceptual illustration of micronozzle acceleration (MNA). A solid hydrogen rod is embedded in an aluminum micronozzle, which channels and focuses plasma flow to optimize proton acceleration.<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Osaka, Japan –<\/strong> Proton beams with giga-electron-volt (GeV) energies\u2014once thought to be achievable only with massive particle accelerators\u2014may soon be generated in compact setups thanks to a breakthrough by researchers at the University of Osaka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A team led by Professor Masakatsu Murakami has developed a novel concept called micronozzle acceleration (MNA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By designing a microtarget with tiny nozzle-like features and irradiating it with ultra-intense, ultra-short laser pulses, the team successfully demonstrated\u2014through advanced numerical simulations\u2014the generation of high-quality, GeV-class proton beams: a world-first achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike traditional laser-based acceleration methods that use flat targets and reach energy limits below 100 mega-electron-volt (MeV) (1 GeV = 1000 MeV), the micronozzle structure enables sustained, stepwise acceleration of protons within a powerful quasi-static electric field created inside the target. This new mechanism allows proton energies to exceed 1 GeV, with excellent beam quality and stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis discovery opens a new door for compact, high-efficiency particle acceleration,\u201d says Prof. Murakami. \u201cWe believe this method has the potential to revolutionize fields such as laser fusion energy, advanced radiotherapy, and even laboratory-scale astrophysics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The implications are wide-reaching:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Energy: <\/strong>Supports fast ignition schemes in laser-driven nuclear fusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Medicine:<\/strong> Enables more compact and precise systems for proton cancer therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Fundamental Science:<\/strong> Creates conditions to simulate extreme astrophysical environments and probe matter under ultra-strong magnetic fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study, based on simulations performed on the SQUID supercomputer at the University of Osaka, marks the first-ever theoretical demonstration of compact GeV proton acceleration using microstructured targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article, \u201cGeneration of giga-electron-volt proton beams by micronozzle acceleration,\u201d was published in\u00a0Scientific Reports<\/em>at <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Proton beams with giga-electron-volt (GeV) energies\u2014once thought to be achievable only with massive particle accelerators\u2014may soon be generated in compact setups thanks to a breakthrough by researchers at the University of Osaka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami.webp",602,403,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami-200x200.webp",200,200,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami.webp",602,403,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami.webp",602,403,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami.webp",602,403,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami.webp",602,403,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami.webp",602,403,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami.webp",602,403,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami.webp",602,403,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami-600x403.webp",600,403,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami-600x403.webp",600,403,true],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami.webp",602,403,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami-550x360.webp",550,360,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami-95x65.webp",95,65,true],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami.webp",602,403,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami-96x96.webp",96,96,true],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Fig.-1_Murakami-150x100.webp",150,100,true]},"author_info":{"info":["RevoScience"]},"category_info":"Research<\/a>","tag_info":"Research","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26445,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26443\/revisions\/26445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}