Related papers: Probing electron acceleration and X-ray emission i…
We explore a regime of laser-driven plasma acceleration of electrons where the radial envelope of the laser-pulse incident at the plasma entrance is strongly mismatched to the nonlinear plasma electron response excited by it. This regime…
Propagation distances of intense laser pulses and high-charge electron beams through the plasma are, respectively, limited by diffraction and self-deceleration. This imposes severe constraints on the performance of the two major advanced…
With the advent of high power lasers, new opportunities have opened up for simulating astrophysical processes in the laboratory. We show that 2nd-order Fermi acceleration can be directly investigated at the National Ignition Facility,…
In this paper we discuss design considerations and beam dynamics challenges associated with laser-driven plasma-based accelerators as applied to multi-TeV-scale linear colliders. Plasma accelerators provide ultra-high gradients and…
At Shanghai Jiao Tong University, we have established a research laboratory for advanced acceleration research based on high-power lasers and plasma technologies. In a primary experiment based on the laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA)…
We measure the emission of energetic electrons from the interaction between ultrashort laser pulses and a solid density plasma in the relativistic regime. We detect an electron beam that only appears with few-cycle pulses (< 10 fs) and…
Surface acceleration of fast electrons in intense laser-plasma interaction is improved by using sub-wavelength grating targets. The fast electron beam emitted along the target surface was enhanced by more than three times relative to that…
The interaction of an ultra-intense laser pulse with a near critical density target results in the formation of a plasma channel, a strong azimuthal magnetic field and moving vortices. An application of this is the generation of energetic…
We study electron acceleration within a sub-critical plasma channel irradiated by an ultra-intense laser pulse ($a_0>100$ or $I>10^{22}~\mathrm{W/cm^2}$). In this regime, radiation reaction significantly alters the electron dynamics. This…
This paper describes the first experimental demonstration of the guiding of a relativistic electron beam in a solid target using two co-linear, relativistically intense, picosecond laser pulses. The first pulse creates a magnetic field…
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…
The acceleration of polarized electron beams in the blowout regime of plasma-based acceleration is explored. An analytical model for the spin precession of single beam electrons, and depolarization rates of zero emittance electron beams, is…
Plasma wakefield acceleration is the most promising acceleration technique for compact and cheap accelerators, thanks to the high accelerating gradients achievable. Nevertheless, this approach still suffers of shot-to-shot instabilities,…
An enhanced ionization injection scheme using a tightly focused laser pulse with intensity near the ionization potential to trigger the injection process in a mismatched pre-plasma channel has been proposed and examined via…
When a high-contrast ultra-relativistic laser beam enters a micro-sized plasma waveguide, the pulse energy is coupled into waveguide modes, which remarkably modifies the interaction of electrons and electromagnetic wave. The electrons that…
Injection of well-defined, high-quality electron populations into plasma waves is a key challenge of plasma wakefield accelerators. Here, we report on the first experimental demonstration of plasma density downramp injection in an…
An effective theory of laser--plasma based particle acceleration is presented. Here we treated the plasma as a continuous medium with an index of refraction $n_{m}$ in which a single electron propagates. Because of the simplicity of this…
Laser-plasma accelerators (LPAs), producing high-quality electron beams, provide an opportunity to reduce the size of free-electron lasers (FELs) to only a few meters. A complete system is proposed here, which is based on FEL technology and…
A high-intensity laser beam propagating through a dense plasma drives a strong current that robustly sustains a strong quasi-static Mega Tesla-level azimuthal magnetic field. The transverse laser field efficiently accelerates electrons in…
Feasibility of ionization injection for Direct Laser Acceleration (DLA) of electrons up to hundreds of MeV was studied analytically. Criteria for effective injection determining range of background and in-channel plasma parameters, laser…