The result was achieved by a team from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (FEE) at CTU, consisting of Prof. Daniel Klír, Dr. Vojtěch Munzar, Ing. Jan Novotný, Dr. Karel Řezáč, Dr. Jakub Cikhardt, Ing. Balžima Cikhardtová, Ing. Vojtěch Juráš, Prof. Pavel Kubeš, and Ing. Jakub Malíř. The research was conducted in close international collaboration with teams from the University of Michigan and Cornell University, institutions that are among the world leaders in the field of plasma physics. The Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences also participated in the research.
The researchers succeeded in experimentally demonstrating a previously unobserved phenomenon: in the so-called X-pinch configuration, where a very strong electric current is concentrated into a single point and creates plasma with extreme parameters, intense proton beams are generated that are radially accelerated to energies close to relativistic values. This discovery offers a new perspective on the mechanisms of particle acceleration in plasma and paves the way for their further study and practical application.
“For any physicist, publication in Physical Review Letters is a significant milestone, as it is a journal dedicated to results that offer a new perspective on fundamental physical phenomena and thereby significantly push the boundaries of individual fields. In our case, the article was also selected as an Editors’ Suggestion, which means that the editorial board considers it a work that transcends the scope of plasma physics and is relevant to the broader physics community,” says Prof. Daniel Klír, head of the plasma physics team.
Breakthrough in proton acceleration opens new possibilities for plasma research
A key benefit of the discovery is the possibility of using the newly created point source of protons for so-called proton radiography—a unique diagnostic method enabling the imaging of rapid changes in the electric and magnetic fields in plasma with a temporal resolution on the order of nanoseconds. Until now, this technology has been available primarily on large laser facilities, but the new approach shows that it can also be implemented on more compact pulsed current generators, which significantly expands its availability for further research.
“This discovery will allow us to study extreme forms of plasma using new, highly sensitive methods. It opens up new possibilities, for example, in research on controlled thermonuclear fusion, laboratory astrophysics, or the development of compact particle accelerators,” adds Prof. Klír.
The results will be followed up in 2026–2029 by further joint research in collaboration with Cornell University, supported by the Interexcellence II program of the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic.
The most important conclusions of the work were also presented in the form of an invited lecture at the largest international conference in the field of plasma physics—the 67th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, held in Long Beach, California. Prof. Klír and Dr. Munzar also presented their research topic in 2024 at Physics Thursday, a series of popular science lectures at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (FEL) of the Czech Technical University (ČVUT).
