Generation of tunable, 100–800 MeV quasi-monoenergetic electron beams from a laser-wakefield accelerator in the blowout regime

Abstract

ORION laser target diagnostics Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 10D732 (2012) Target normal sheath acceleration sheath fields for arbitrary electron energy distribution Phys. Plasmas 19, 083115 (2012) Saturation gain-length product during short-wavelength plasma lasing Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 081105 (2012) Laser induced avalanche ionization in gases or gas mixtures with resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization or femtosecond laser pulse pre-ionization Phys. Plasmas 19, 083508 (2012) Additional information on Phys. PlasmasIn this paper, we present results on a scalable high-energy electron source based on laser wakefield acceleration. The electron accelerator using 30-80 TW, 30 fs laser pulses, operates in the blowout regime, and produces high-quality, quasi-monoenergetic electron beams in the range 100-800 MeV. These beams have angular divergence of 1-4 mrad, and 5%-25% energy spread, with a resulting brightness 10 11 electrons mm À2 MeV À1 mrad À2 . The beam parameters can be tuned by varying the laser and plasma conditions. The use of a high-quality laser pulse and appropriate target conditions enables optimization of beam quality, concentrating a significant fraction of the accelerated charge into the quasi-monoenergetic component. V C 2012 American Institute of Physics.

Accordion effect in plasma channels: Generation of tunable comb-like electron beams

“…The chirp and the channel bring the tail down, reducing the charge by a factor 2-4, and the average flux by a factor 2.75-4.25 (depending on the pulse length), while roughly preserving the net charge of the QME components. 2 The chirp and the channel also reduce the energy spread of the QME components against the reference case. The highest energy component of the tri-color beam [ Fig.…”

“…Their ability to deliver GeV-scale, backgroundfree, fs-duration electron beams [2], [3], with a beam quality competitive with standard linear accelerators [4], is an asset for the design of all-optical γ-ray sources, featuring the unprecedented degree of control over the radiation spectrum [5]. This flexibility is rooted in the nature of the driver -a relativistically intense laser pulse.…”

Sub-millimeter-scale, 100-MeV-class quasi-monoenergetic laser plasma accelerator based on all-optical control of dark current in the blowout regime

“…Electron cavitation relaxes limitations on the charge imposed by beam loading [4]. The bubble readily traps relativistic electrons from its sheath [1,5,6,7], reducing the technical complexity of the experiment while preserving flexibility in parameters [2,5,7]. Robustness of self-injection is rooted in the adiabatically slow evolution of the bubble, which, in turn, is tied to the nonlinear optical evolution of the driver [5,6,7,8].…”

“…Accelerating gradients in the plasma may exceed by many orders of magnitude those accessible with conventional solid structures. As such, 0.1 to 0.8 GeV beams can be readily produced in a controllable fashion using table-top-scale systems [2]. However, extending electron energy beyond this range (while preserving the beam quality) takes away the advantage of compactness, requiring multi-cm length plasmas and large laser systems delivering multi-100 J, PW-power pulses [1,5].…”

“…Laser plasma accelerators (LPAs) working in the blowout regime [1] have recently produced near-GeV, collimated, quasi-monoenergetic (QME) electron beams from sub-cm length rarefied plasmas [2]. The hallmark of the regime is full cavitation of electron fluid by the ponderomotive force of a short, relativistically intense laser pulse.…”