All-optical approaches to particle acceleration are currently attracting a significant research effort internationally. Although characterized by exceptional transverse and longitudinal emittance, laser-driven ion beams currently have limitations in terms of peak ion energy, bandwidth of the energy spectrum and beam divergence. Here we introduce the concept of a versatile, miniature linear accelerating module, which, by employing laser-excited electromagnetic pulses directed along a helical path surrounding the laser-accelerated ion beams, addresses these shortcomings simultaneously. In a proof-of-principle experiment on a university-scale system, we demonstrate post-acceleration of laser-driven protons from a flat foil at a rate of 0.5 GeV m(-1), already beyond what can be sustained by conventional accelerator technologies, with dynamic beam collimation and energy selection. These results open up new opportunities for the development of extremely compact and cost-effective ion accelerators for both established and innovative applications.

中文翻译：

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通过微型模块化结构引导激光驱动离子的后加速。

目前，全光学的粒子加速方法正在国际上吸引大量的研究工作。尽管激光驱动的离子束具有出色的横向和纵向发射率，但目前在峰值离子能量，能谱带宽和电子束发散方面存在局限性。在这里，我们介绍了通用的微型线性加速模块的概念，该模块通过采用沿围绕激光加速离子束的螺旋路径定向的激光激励电磁脉冲，来同时解决这些缺点。在大学规模的系统的原理验证实验中，我们证明了激光驱动质子从平面箔以0.5 GeV m（-1）的速度进行后加速，已经超出了常规加速器所能承受的速度技术，动态光束准直和能量选择。这些结果为既开发又创新的应用开发了极其紧凑且经济高效的离子加速器开辟了新的机遇。