Mid-infrared lasers for energy frontier plasma accelerators

Abstract

Plasma wake field accelerators driven with solid-state near-IR lasers have been considered as an alternative to conventional rf accelerators for next-generation TeV-class lepton colliders. Here, we extend this study to the mid-IR spectral domain covered by CO 2 lasers. We conclude that the increase in the laser driver wavelength favors the regime of laser wake field acceleration with a low plasma density and high electric charge. This regime is the most beneficial for gamma colliders to be converted from lepton colliders via inverse Compton scattering. Selecting a laser wavelength to drive a Compton gamma source is essential for the design of such a machine. The revealed benefits from spectral diversification of laser drivers for future colliders and offspring applications validate ongoing efforts in advancing the ultrafast CO 2 laser technology.

Generation of octave-spanning mid-infrared pulses from cascaded second-order nonlinear processes in a single crystal

“…Mid-IR laser pulses centered at 3.9 μ m has produced X-ray photons with more than 1.6 keV 7 . In addition, such mid-IR laser sources are ideal tools for the study of HHG in solids 8 , 9 , incoherent hard X-ray generation 10 , acceleration of electrons in dielectric structures and plasma 11 – 13 , breakdown of dipole approximation 14 , filamentation in air 15 , rotational and vibrational dynamics of molecules 16 , time-resolved imaging of molecular structures 17 , strong-field science in plasmonic systems 18 , and mid-IR supercontinuum generation 19 .…”

THz Generation from Relativistic Plasmas Driven by Near- to Far-Infrared Laser Pulses

“…Femtosecond laser facilities with 3.9 µm central wavelength opened the way to multi-octave supercontinuum generation [18] and can accelerate electrons to 12 MeV energy in gas jets [19]. CO 2 lasers (λ 0 = 10.6 µm) are also operational in the ps range [20] and they should soon provide revolutionary tools unveiling new regimes in particle acceleration and future colliders [21]. Therefore, it is worth investigating the gain that such optical sources may offer in THz science, since their carrier wavelength is already close to the spectroscopy range of interest.…”

Lasing in 15 atm CO2 cell optically pumped by a Fe:ZnSe laser

“…Picosecond and subpicosecond pulses with TW-level power in the long-wave infrared region (8-14 µm) are desirable for the study of high-field physics and nonlinear optics in this wavelength range [1][2][3]. Utilizing CO2 laser systems is currently the most promising strategy towards the generation of such pulses, as the CO2 molecule is capable of storing Joules of energy for 10 µm amplification and does not face the damage threshold limitations that inhibit optical parametric amplifiers from reaching high peak powers at these wavelengths.…”