Decoupling acceleration and wiggling in a laser-produced Betatron source
Abstract
Betatron radiation is produced in Laser Plasma Accelerators when the electrons are accelerated and simultaneously wiggle across the propagation axis. The mechanisms of electron acceleration and X-ray radiation production follow different scaling laws, and the brightest X-ray radiation is often produced for an electron beam with a lower quality in terms of energy and divergence. Here, we report a laser-driven Betatron X-ray source where the plasma density profile is tailored in order to separate the acceleration and wiggler stages, which allows for the independent optimizations of acceleration and X-ray production. We demonstrate this concept experimentally, and show that the Betatron photon energy can be controlled by adjusting the length of the plasma wiggler. This scheme offers a path to overcome the limitations of conventional Betatron sources, enabling the production of bright, stable, energetic, and collimated X-ray beams.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2506.22021,
title = {Decoupling acceleration and wiggling in a laser-produced Betatron source},
author = {Julien Gautier and Igor Andriyash and Andreas Döpp and Michaela Kozlova and Aimé Matheron and Benoit Mahieu and Cédric Thaury and Ronan Lahaye and Jean-Philippe Goddet and Amar Tafzi and Pascal Rousseau and Stéphane Sebban and Antoine Rousse and Kim Ta Phuoc},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.22021},
year = {2025}
}