Related papers: Numerical Studies of Electron Acceleration Behind …
The AWAKE experiment at CERN aims to drive GV/m plasma wakefields with a self-modulated proton drive bunch, and to use them for electron acceleration. During the self-modulation process, protons are defocused by the transverse plasma…
Plasma-based accelerators are beginning to employ relativistic beams with unprecedented charge and ultrashort durations. These dense driver beams can drive wakes even in high-density plasmas ($\gtrsim10^{19}$ cm$^{-3}$), where betatron…
This paper describes the utilization of beam-driven plasma wakefield acceleration to implement a high-quality plasma cathode via density-downramp injection in a short injector stage at the FLASHForward facility at DESY. Electron beams with…
The interaction of ultraintense laser pulses with solids is largely affected by the plasma gradient at the vacuum-solid interface, which modifies the absorption and ultimately, controls the energy distribution function of heated electrons.…
We describe the implementation of light diagnostics for studying the self-modulation instability of a long relativistic proton bunch in a 10m-long plasma. The wakefields driven by the proton bunch dissipate their energy in the surrounding…
We propose to use tightly focused lasers to generate high quality electron beams in laser wakefield accelerators. In this scheme, the expansion of the laser beam after the focal position enlarges the size of wakefield bubble, which reduces…
In the context of plasma wakefield acceleration beam driven, we exploit a high density charge trailing bunch whose self-fields act by mitigating the energy spread increase via beam loading compensation, together with bunch self-contain…
We present a method to measure transverse size and position of an electron or proton beam, close to the injection point in plasma wakefields, where other diagnostics are not available. We show that transverse size measurements are in…
Three-dimensional (3D) simulations of electron beams propagating in high energy density (HED) plasmas using the quasi-static Particle-in-Cell (PIC) code QuickPIC demonstrate a significant increase in stopping power when beam electrons…
We demonstrate laser-plasma acceleration of high charge electron beams to the ~10 MeV scale using ultrashort laser pulses with as little energy as 10 mJ. This result is made possible by an extremely dense and thin hydrogen gas jet. Total…
A laser pulse traveling through a plasma can excite large amplitude plasma waves that can be used to accelerate relativistic electron beams in a very short distance---a technique called laser wakefield acceleration. Many wakefield…
Plasma wakefield acceleration in the nonlinear blowout regime has been shown to provide high acceleration gradients and high energy transfer efficiency while maintaining great beam quality for electron acceleration. In contrast, research on…
In plasma-based acceleration, an ultra-relativistic particle bunch$\unicode{x2014}$or an intense laser beam$\unicode{x2014}$is used to expel electrons from its propagation path, forming a wake that is devoid of electrons. The ions, being…
A long, narrow, relativistic charged particle bunch propagating in plasma is subject to the self-modulation (SM) instability. We show that SM of a proton bunch can be seeded by the wakefields driven by a preceding electron bunch. SM timing…
We investigate numerically the detection of the self-modulation instability in a virtual detector located downstream from the plasma in the context of AWAKE. We show that the density structures, appearing in the temporally resolving virtual…
We use particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations and simple analytic models to investigate the laser-plasma interaction known as ponderomotive steepening. When normally incident laser light reflects at the critical surface of a plasma, the…
For plasma-wakefield accelerators to fulfil their potential for cost effectiveness, it is essential that their energy-transfer efficiency be maximized. A key aspect of this efficiency is the near-complete transfer of energy, or depletion,…
Laser plasma interaction with micro-engineered targets at relativistic intensities has been greatly promoted by recent progress in the high contrast lasers and the manufacture of advanced micro- and nano-structures. This opens new…
An ultra-short (about 30 fs) petawatt laser pulse focused with a wide focal spot (about 100 microns) in a rarefied plasma (electron density of order 10^{17} per cm^3) excites a nonlinear plasma wakefield which can accelerate injected…
The electron density close to the extraction grids and the co-extracted electrons represent a crucial issue when operating negative ion sources for fusion reactors. An excessive electron density in the plasma expansion region can indeed…