Production of a keV X-Ray Beam from Synchrotron Radiation in Relativistic Laser-Plasma Interaction

Rousse, A.; Phuoc, K. Ta; Shah, Rahul; Pukhov, A.; Lefebvre, E.; Malka, Victor; Kiselev, S. I.; Burgy, F.; Rousseau, Jean‐Philippe; Umstadter, Donald; Hulín, D.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.93.135005

Cited by 635 publications

(460 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The number of X-ray photons obtained strongly depends on the charge of the electron beam, and thus also on the plasma electron density. We obtained up to ∼5 × 10 4 photons/mrad 2 over the range 1-10 keV, which is comparable to the results in [10]. Figure 5(a) and (b) show far-field distributions of the X-ray beam for two slightly different electron densities, n e = 5.3 × 10 18 cm −3 and n e = 5.9 × 10 18 cm −3 , respectively.…”

Section: X-rayssupporting

confidence: 86%

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Laser-plasma electron acceleration in dielectric capillary tubes

et al. 2011

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Electron beams and betatron X-ray radiation generated by laser wakefield acceleration in long plasma targets are studied. The targets consist of hydrogen filled dielectric capillary tubes of diameter 150 to 200 microns and length 6 to 20 mm. Electron beams are observed for peak laser intensities as low as 5 × 10 17 W/cm 2 . It is found that the capillary collects energy outside the main peak of the focal spot and contributes to keep the beam self-focused over a distance longer than in a gas jet of similar density. This enables the pulse to evolve enough to reach the threshold for wavebreaking, and thus trap and accelerate electrons. No electrons were observed for capillaries of large diameter (250 µm), confirming that the capillary influences the interaction and does not have the same behaviour as a gas cell. Finally, X-rays are used as a diagnostic of the interaction

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Section: X-rayssupporting

confidence: 86%

“…X-rays can be produced within a wakefield accelerator through a process called betatron oscillations [10]. Transverse fields can cause electrons within the wakefield to oscillate transversely to their acceleration direction and produce X-rays, which have great potential as novel ultra-short radiation sources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser-plasma electron acceleration in dielectric capillary tubes

et al. 2011

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“…peak brightness than previous laser-driven betatron sources 6,7 . Furthermore, we demonstrate that the radiation has an appreciable degree of spatial coherence.…”

mentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The radiation is confined to a cone with opening angle θ ≈ K /γ . The first measurements of betatron radiation from a broad energy spread electron beam from a laser wakefield accelerator have demonstrated X-ray emission with energies up to 1 keV with a peak brightness up to 10 19 photons per second per mrad 2 per mm 2 per 0.1% bandwidth 6 . Here we demonstrate that by entering the highly nonlinear, so-called bubble regime of laser wakefield acceleration 2 , we always and immediately inject a much larger amount of charge (>100 pC), which is accelerated to narrow-energy-spread beams with much higher peak energy ( 230 MeV over 5 mm) than in earlier experiments.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bright spatially coherent synchrotron X-rays from a table-top source

Kneip

McGuffey

Martins³

et al. 2010

Nature Phys

430

370

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Each successive generation of X-ray machines has opened up new frontiers in science, such as the first radiographs and the determination of the structure of DNA. State-of-the-art X-ray sources can now produce coherent high-brightness Xrays of greater than kiloelectronvolt energy and promise a new revolution in imaging complex systems on nanometre and femtosecond scales. Despite the demand, only a few dedicated synchrotron facilities exist worldwide, in part because of the size and cost of conventional (accelerator) technology 1 . Here we demonstrate the use of a new generation of laserdriven plasma accelerators 2 , which accelerate high-charge electron beams to high energy in short distances 3-5 , to produce directional, spatially coherent, intrinsically ultrafast beams of hard X-rays. This reduces the size of the synchrotron source from the tens of metres to the centimetre scale, simultaneously accelerating and wiggling the electron beam. The resulting X-ray source is 1,000 times brighter than previously reported plasma wigglers 6,7 and thus has the potential to facilitate a myriad of uses across the whole spectrum of light-source applications.There are a number of proposals to use extreme nonlinear interactions of the latest generation of high-power ultrashort-pulse laser systems to produce beams of high-energy photons with high brightness and short pulse duration. For example, high-order harmonic generation promises trains of coherent pulselets 8 and Compton scattering could extend energies into the γ -regime 9,10 . An alternative proposal has been the use of compact laser-plasma accelerators to drive sources of undulating/wiggling radiation 11 .These accelerators use the plasma wakefield generated by the passage of an intense laser pulse through an underdense plasma 12 . Such wakefields can have intrinsic fields of more than 1,000 times greater than the best achievable by conventional accelerator technology, and thus can accelerate particles to high energies in a fraction of the distance. Recently, it has been demonstrated that at high laser power, the wakefield can be driven to sufficient amplitude to be able to trap large numbers of particles (>100 pC) from the background plasma and accelerate them in a narrow energy spread beam 3-5 , now producing beams of electrons of gigaelectronvoltscale energy of the order of 1 cm (refs 13,14).Such electron sources are of interest to replace the accelerators that drive current synchrotron sources, and typically use multiple periods of alternately poled magnets (undulators or wigglers) to reinforce the synchrotron emission over a length of a few metres. The first demonstrations of wakefield-driven radiation using external wigglers have also been reported, though still being limited to optical or near-optical wavelengths and modest peak brightness 15,16 .However, the particles being accelerated in the plasma accelerator also undergo transverse (betatron) oscillations when subject to the focusing fields of the plasma wave. These oscillations occur at the betatron frequen...

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“…Appealing features of laser-plasma accelerators are the mm-scale size that is required for the generation of GeV electron energies [4] and the high peak currents of up to 100 kA combined with short bunch lengths on the 10 fs scale [6]. Especially the latter suggests the application of laser-accelerated electron bunches as drivers for secondary light sources, either via incoherent synchrotron radiation [7], undulator radiation, or coherent FEL (free-electron laser) radiation [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Miniature magnetic devices for laser-based, table-top free-electron lasers

Eichner

Grüner

Becker

et al. 2007

Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams

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Truly table-top sized radiation sources based on compact laser-plasma accelerators require compact and strong focusing devices and efficient short-period undulators. Complementing our recent theoretical work on the feasibility of a table-top FEL, we here present the design and successful experimental characterizations of a 5 mm period length undulator and miniature quadrupole magnets with field gradients of the order of 500 T=m.

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Production of a keV X-Ray Beam from Synchrotron Radiation in Relativistic Laser-Plasma Interaction

Cited by 635 publications

References 26 publications

Laser-plasma electron acceleration in dielectric capillary tubes

Laser-plasma electron acceleration in dielectric capillary tubes

Bright spatially coherent synchrotron X-rays from a table-top source

Miniature magnetic devices for laser-based, table-top free-electron lasers

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