High-repetition-rate, all-reflective optical guiding and electron acceleration in helium using an off-axis axicon
Abstract
We present recent results on high-power guiding and laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) in the ELBA beamline at ELI Beamlines, using the L3-HAPLS laser system (13 J, 30 fs, 0.2 Hz). By employing self-waveguiding in a 20 cm plasma channel in helium, we achieved stable acceleration of electron beams to energies approaching 5 GeV. A novel all-reflective optical setup, including an off-axis reflective axicon, enabled efficient acceleration at 0.2 Hz and guiding at repetition rates up to 3.3 Hz. This compact single laser, single compressor implementation of plasma channels for electron acceleration stabilizes electron pointing and enhances energy gain without requiring modifications to the laser system, paving the way for broader adoption of the technology across user facilities.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2512.04788,
title = {High-repetition-rate, all-reflective optical guiding and electron acceleration in helium using an off-axis axicon},
author = {Jiří Šišma and Michal Nevrkla and Filip Vitha and Sebastian Lorenz and Illia Zymak and Alžběta Špádová and Andrea Kollárová and Matěj Jech and Alexandr Jančárek and Davorin Peceli and Carlo M. Lazzarini and Leonardo V. N. Goncalves and Gabriele M. Grittani and Sergei V. Bulanov and Jaron E. Shrock and Ela Rockafellow and Ari J. Sloss and Bo Miao and Scott W. Hancock and Howard M. Milchberg},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.04788},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
13 pages, 7 figures