Multi-GeV electron bunches from an all-optical laser wakefield accelerator
Abstract
We present the first demonstration of multi-GeV laser wakefield acceleration in a fully optically formed plasma waveguide, with an acceleration gradient as high as 25 GeV/m. The guide was formed via self-waveguiding of <15 J, 45 fs (<~300 TW) pulses over 20 cm in a low density hydrogen gas jet, with accelerated electron bunches simultaneously driven up to 5 GeV in a milliradian divergence quasi-monoenergetic peak of relative energy width ~15% and charge of at least ~10 picocoulombs. Energy gain is inversely correlated with on-axis waveguide density in the range N_e0=(1.3-3.2)x10^17 cm^(-3). We find that shot-to-shot stability of bunch spectra and charge are strongly dependent on the pointing of the injected laser pulse and gas jet uniformity. We also observe evidence of pump depletion-induced dephasing, a consequence of the long optical guiding distance.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2112.03489,
title = {Multi-GeV electron bunches from an all-optical laser wakefield accelerator},
author = {B. Miao and J. E. Shrock and L. Feder and R. C. Hollinger and J. Morrison and R. Nedbailo and A. Picksley and H. Song and S. Wang and J. J. Rocca and H. M. Milchberg},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2112.03489},
year = {2021}
}