Related papers: Laser-based acceleration of non-relativistic elect…
Direct laser acceleration (DLA) offers a compact source of high-charge, energetic electrons for generating secondary radiation or neutrons. While DLA in high-density plasma optimizes the energy transfer from a laser pulse to electrons, it…
Particle accelerators represent an indispensable tool in science and industry. However, the size and cost of conventional radio-frequency accelerators limit the utility and reach of this technology. Dielectric laser accelerators (DLAs)…
Dielectric laser accelerators (DLAs) use the nearfields created when a laser pulse impinges on a dielectric structure to accelerate charged particles. We provide an overview of the theory of operation of photon driven accelerators, from…
We demonstrate that electrons can be efficiently accelerated to high energy in spatially non-uniform, intense laser fields. Laser non-uniformities occur when a perfect plane wave reflects off a randomly perturbed surface. By solving for…
Using plasma mirror injection we demonstrate, both analytically and numerically, that a circularly polarized helical laser pulse can accelerate highly collimated dense bunches of electrons to several hundred MeV using currently available…
While laser-plasma accelerators have demonstrated a strong potential in the acceleration of electrons up to giga-electronvolt energies, few experimental tools for studying the acceleration physics have been developed. In this paper, we…
Laser-based electron acceleration is attracting strong interest from the conventional accelerator community due to its outstanding characteristics in terms of high initial energy, low emittance and high beam current. Unfortunately, such…
The interaction of laser pulses with thin grating targets, having a periodic groove at the irradiated surface, has been experimentally investigated. Ultrahigh contrast ($\sim 10^{12}$) pulses allowed to demonstrate an enhanced laser-target…
Experiments on the excitation of propagating surface plasmons (SPs) by ultrashort, high intensity laser interaction with "grating" targets are reviewed. At intensities exceeding $10^{19}~\mbox{W cm}^{-2}$ on target, i.e. in the strongly…
Maximum amplitudes of accelerating fields are restricted by electron breakdown and Joule heating losses in conducting walls in traditional accelerating structures. In this paper, we presented a resonant composite accelerating cavity, which…
Laser-plasma technology promises a drastic reduction of the size of high energy electron accelerators. It could make free electron lasers available to a broad scientific community, and push further the limits of electron accelerators for…
In laser illuminated dielectric accelerators (DLA) high acceleration gradients can be achieved, due to high damage thresholds of the materials at optical frequencies. This is a necessity in developing more compact particle accelerator…
Linear acceleration in free space is a topic that has been studied for over 20 years, and its ability to eventually produce high-quality, high energy multi-particle bunches has remained a subject of great interest. Arguments can certainly…
We present an experimental demonstration of the efficient acceleration of electrons beyond 60 MeV using micro-channel plasma targets. We employed a high-contrast, 2.5 J, 32 fs short pulse laser interacting with a 5 \mu m inner diameter, 300…
We propose to use ultra-high intensity laser pulses with wavefront rotation (WFR) to produce short, ultra-intense surface plasma waves (SPW) on grating targets for electron acceleration. Combining a smart grating design with optimal WFR…
The radiative acceleration of particles and the electrostatic potential fields that arise in low density plasmas hit by radiation produced by a transient, compact source are investigated. We calculate the dynamical evolution and asymptotic…
We demonstrate a high-energy, high-charge, electron source produced by the irradiation of a novel gaseous target by an ultra-intense femtosecond laser pulse. By exploiting a nonsymmetrical nozzle, we increased the total charge of the…
Dielectric laser-driven accelerators (DLAs) can provide high accelerating gradients in the GV/m range due to their having higher breakdown thresholds than metals, which opens the way for the miniaturization of the next generation of…
We propose an on-chip optical power delivery system for dielectric laser accelerators based on a fractal 'tree-branch' dielectric waveguide network. This system replaces experimentally demanding free-space manipulations of the driving laser…
Laser-accelerated electron beams have been created at a kHz repetition rate from the {\it reflection} of intense ($\sim10^{18}$ W/cm$^2$), $\sim$40 fs laser pulses focused on a continuous water-jet in an experiment at the Air Force Research…