The acceleration of polarized electrons, positrons, protons and ions in strong laser and plasma fields is a very attractive option for obtaining polarized beams in the multi-mega-electron volt range. Recently, there has been substantial progress in the understanding of the dominant mechanisms leading to high degrees of polarization, in the numerical modeling of these processes and in their experimental implementation. This review paper presents an overview on the current state of the field, and on the concepts of polarized laser–plasma accelerators and of beam polarimetry.

We report on the concept of an innovative source to produce polarized proton/deuteron beams of a kinetic energy up to several GeV from a laser-driven plasma accelerator. Spin effects have been implemented into the particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation code VLPL (Virtual Laser Plasma Lab) to make theoretical predictions about the behavior of proton spins in laser-induced plasmas. Simulations of spin-polarized targets show that the polarization is conserved during the acceleration process. For the experimental realization, a polarized HCl gas-jet target is under construction using the fundamental wavelength of a Nd:YAG laser system to align the HCl bonds and simultaneously circularly polarized light of the fifth harmonic to photo-dissociate, yielding nuclear polarized H atoms. Subsequently, their degree of polarization is measured with a Lamb-shift polarimeter. The final experiments, aiming at the first observation of a polarized particle beam from laser-generated plasmas, will be carried out at the 10 PW laser system SULF at SIOM, Shanghai.