Refractive plasma optics for relativistic laser beams

Seemann, O.; Wan, Y.; Tata, Sheroy; Kroupp, E.; Malka, Victor

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38937-0

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…On top of this, the multiple processes occurring inside the plasma (etching 12 , self-focusing 13 , filamentation 14 , etc) originates a highly complex evolution of the laser propagation compared to vacuum conditions. Therefore, in experiment, where laser and gas are not perfect, the LWFA process shows some shot-to-shot instabilities and also puts into question the superiority of aiming for a perfect Gaussian laser pulse when interacting with an imperfect gas target as already hinted in some works 11 , 15 – 17 . Beaurepaire et al 16 presents a qualitative comparison between two simple laser transverse distributions, reconstructed from experiment, with real and flat wavefront.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Notable improvements on LWFA through precise laser wavefront tuning

Oumbarek Espinos,

Rondepierre,

Zhidkov

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) continues to grow and awaken interest worldwide, especially as in various applications it approaches performance comparable to classical accelerators. However, numerous challenges still exist until this can be a reality. The complex non-linear nature of the process of interaction between the laser and the induced plasma remains an obstacle to the widespread LWFA use as stable and reliable particle sources. It is commonly accepted that the best wavefront is a perfect Gaussian distribution. However, experimentally, this is not correct and more complicated ones can potentially give better results. in this work, the effects of tuning the laser wavefront via the controlled introduction of aberrations are explored for an LWFA accelerator using the shock injection configuration. Our experiments show the clear unique correlation between the generated beam transverse characteristics and the different input wavefronts. The electron beams stability, acceleration and injection are also significantly different. We found that in our case, the best beams were generated with a specific complex wavefront. A greater understanding of electron generation as function of the laser input is achieved thanks to this method and hopes towards a higher level of control on the electrons beams by LWFA is foreseen.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Notable improvements on LWFA through precise laser wavefront tuning

Oumbarek Espinos,

Rondepierre,

Zhidkov

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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show abstract

“…Nonetheless, real laser applications are often far from using simplified Gaussian beams, as disturbances can modify the wavefront, even if a lot of efforts and costs are often put on laser maintenance and beam quality control to keep the delivered laser as close as possible to the perfect diffraction limited case. However, it has been recently experimentally demonstrated that drastic changes arise when tuning the laser wavefront 8 , 9 , while other works previously started to explore this matter through a coupling between theory, simulations and experiments 10 – 13 . But, up to now and to the best of our knowledge, the numerical investigation of this arch-issue for LWFA remains limited with current PIC (particle-in-cell 14 ) simulations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stabilization and correction of aberrated laser beams via plasma channelling

Rondepierre,

Zhidkov,

Oumbarek Espinos

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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High-power laser applications, and especially laser wakefield acceleration, continue to draw attention through various research topics, and may bring many industrial applications based on compact accelerators, from ultrafast imaging to cancer therapy. However, one main step towards this is the arch issue of stability. Indeed, the interaction of a complex, aberrated laser beam with plasma involves a lot of physical phenomena and non-linear effects, such as self-focusing and filamentation. Different outcomes can be induced by small laser instabilities (i.e. laser wavefront), therefore harming any practical solution. One promising path to be explored is the use of a plasma channel to possibly guide and correct aberrated beams. Complex and costly experimental facilities are required to investigate such topics. However, one way to quickly and efficiently explore new solutions is numerical simulations, especially Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations if, and only if, one is confidently implementing such aberrated beams which, contrary to a Gaussian beam, do not have analytical solutions. In this research, we propose two new advancements: the correct implementation of aberrated laser beams inside a 3D PIC code, showing a great consistency, under vacuum, compared to the calculations with Fresnel theory); and the correction of their quality via the propagation inside a plasma channel. We demonstrate improvements in the beam pattern, becoming closer to a single plasma mode with less distortions, and thus suggesting a better stability for the targeted application. Through this confident calculation technique for distorted laser beams, we are now expecting to proceed with more accurate PIC simulations, closer to experimental conditions, and obtained results with plasma channels indicate promising future research.

show abstract

“…Nonetheless, real laser applications are often far from using simplified Gaussian beams, as disturbances can modify the wavefront, even if a lot of efforts and costs are often put on laser maintenance and beam quality control to keep the delivered laser as close as possible to the perfect diffraction limited case. However, it has been recently experimentally demonstrated that drastic changes arise when tuning the laser wavefront 8 , while other theoretical works already started to investigate such cases [9][10][11][12][13] . But, up to now and to the best of our knowledge, the numerical investigation of this arch-issue for LWFA remains limited with current PIC (particle-in-cell 14 ) simulations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stabilization and correction of aberrated laser beams via plasma channelling.

Rondepierre,

Zhidkov,

Espinos

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

High-power laser applications, and especially laser wakefield acceleration, continue to draw attention through various research topics, and may bring many industrial applications based on compact accelerators, from ultrafast imaging to cancer therapy. However, one main step towards this is the arch issue of stability. Indeed, the interaction of a complex, aberrated laser beam with plasma involves a lot of physical phenomena and non-linear effects, such as self-focusing and filamentation. Different outcomes can be induced by small laser instabilities (i.e. laser wavefront), therefore harming any practical solution. One promising path to be explored is the use of a plasma channel to possibly guide and correct aberrated beams.Complex and costly experimental facilities are required to investigate such topics. However, one way to quickly and efficiently explore new solutions is numerical simulations, especially Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations if, and only if, one is confidently implementing such aberrated beams which, contrary to a Gaussian beam, do not have analytical solutions.In this research, we propose two new advancements: the correct implementation of aberrated laser beams inside a 3D PIC code, showing a great consistency, under vacuum, compared to the calculations with Fresnel theory); and the correction of their quality via the propagation inside a plasma channel. We demonstrate improvements in the beam pattern, becoming closer to a single plasma mode with less distortions, and thus suggesting a better stability for the targeted application.Through this confident calculation technique for distorted laser beams, we are now expecting to proceed with more accurate PIC simulations, closer to experimental conditions, and obtained results with plasma channels indicate promising future research.

show abstract

Refractive plasma optics for relativistic laser beams

Cited by 5 publications

References 32 publications

Notable improvements on LWFA through precise laser wavefront tuning

Notable improvements on LWFA through precise laser wavefront tuning

Stabilization and correction of aberrated laser beams via plasma channelling

Stabilization and correction of aberrated laser beams via plasma channelling.

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