Quasi-phasematched laser wakefield acceleration
Plasma Physics
2015-06-17 v1 Accelerator Physics
Abstract
The energy gain in laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) is ultimately limited by dephasing, occurring when accelerated electrons outrun the accelerating phase of the wakefield. We apply quasi-phasematching, enabled by axially modulated plasma channels, to overcome this limitation. By matching the modulation period to the dephasing length, a relativistic electron can undergo energy gain over several dephasing lengths. Theory and simulations are presented showing that at a weakly relativistic laser intensity, ~10^17 W/cm2, and millijoule level pulse energies, quasi-phasematched LWFA results in energy gains of 50 MeV larger than standard LWFA.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1310.7541,
title = {Quasi-phasematched laser wakefield acceleration},
author = {S. J. Yoon and J. P. Palastro and H. M. Milchberg},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1310.7541},
year = {2015}
}