Transport and manipulation of laser driven proton beams for diagnostics and applications

The aim of this doctoral thesis is to study the transport and the manipulation of laser driven proton beams for both diagnostics and applications. This work is mainly separated into two parts: (1) a theoretical study of a new spectrometer for laser ion diagnostics and (2) a detailed study of a laser Particle Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE) beamline for material science ap plications. It also includes part of the experimental results related to the participation in August 2016 in the TITAN experimental campaign in Livermore, California, and the participation in the first trimester of 2020 in the experimental campaign at Extreme Light infrastructure Attosecond Light Pulse Source (ELI-ALPS) research center in Szeged, Hungary. A better knowledge of the source of the laser-generated protons is translated in being able to “control” and increase the understanding of the evolution of the acceleration process at the beginning, whereas developing a customized transport beamline is translated in increasing the “control” of the final proton parameters required for a specific application.