Related papers: Recent studies on single-shot diagnostics for plas…

We present few-femtosecond shadowgraphic snapshots taken during the non-linear evolution of the plasma wave in a laser wakefield accelerator with transverse synchronized few-cycle probe pulses. These snapshots can be directly associated…

The goal of this paper is to examine experimental progress in laser wakefield acceleration over the past decade (2004-2014), and to use trends in the data to understand some of the important physical processes. By examining a set of over 50…

We report the initial considerations of using linearly polarized optical transition radiation (OTR) to characterize the electron beams of laser plasma accelerators (LPAs) such as at the Univ. of Texas at Austin. The two LPAs operate at 100…

We report a synergistic enhancement of betatron radiation based on the hybrid laser and plasma wakefield acceleration scheme. Quasi-phase-stable acceleration in an up-ramp plasma density first generates GeV-energy electron beams that act as…

We present a novel electron injection scheme for plasma wakefield acceleration. The method is based on recently proposed technique of fast electron generation via laser-solid interaction: a femtosecond laser pulse with the energy of tens of…

We present a technique, based on a dipole magnet spectrometer containing multiple scintillation screens, to accurately characterize the spectral distribution of a GeV electron beam generated by laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA). An…

Laser wakefield acceleration, characterized by the extremely high electric field gradient exceeding 100GV/m, is regarded as a compact and cost affordable technology for the next generation of particle colliders and light sources. However,…

Plasma-based particle accelerators promise to extend the revolutionary work performed with conventional particle accelerators to studies with smaller footprints, lower costs, and higher energies. Here, we propose a new approach to access an…

Plasma-based accelerators are compact and provide high gradients, yet their practical use has been limited by energy gain, stability, beam quality, and energy transfer efficiency. Here, we address several of these challenges simultaneously…

We present a novel method for aligning a laser ionized plasma source to a pair of ultra-relativistic electron beams that comprise a plasma wakefield accelerator (PWFA). We achieve alignment by analyzing the plasma afterglow light observed…

SPARC_LAB is a facility designed for the production of FEL radiation and the exploration of advanced acceleration techniques using a high brightness electron photo-injector. Specifically, particle-driven plasma wakefield acceleration (PWFA)…

Beam-driven plasma-wakefield acceleration (PWFA) has emerged as a transformative technology with the potential to revolutionize the field of particle acceleration, especially toward compact accelerators for high-energy and high-power…

We use Bayesian optimization in combination with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to determine the optimal laser and plasma parameters that, for a given laser pulse energy, maximize the cut-off energy of an electron beam…

We propose a hybrid laser-driven ion acceleration scheme using a combination target of a solid foil and a density-tailored background plasma. In the first stage, a sub-relativistic proton beam can be generated by the radiation pressure…

A new scheme of proton acceleration from a laser-driven near-critical-density plasma is proposed. Plasma with a tailored density profile allows a two-stage acceleration of protons. The protons are pre-accelerated in the laser-driven…

Next-generation plasma-based accelerators can push electron beams to GeV energies within centimetre distances. The plasma, excited by a driver pulse, is indeed able to sustain huge electric fields that can efficiently accelerate a trailing…

We propose a new and simple strategy for controlled ionization-induced trapping of electrons in a beam-driven plasma accelerator. The presented method directly exploits electric wakefields to ionize electrons from a dopant gas and capture…

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…

We revisit the matching conditions for self-guided laser pulse propagation in plasma and refine their formulation to maximize the energy of electrons produced via laser wakefield acceleration. Bayesian optimization, combined with…

Achieving high-quality electron beams from laser wakefield accelerators critically relies on density tailoring to control electron dynamics during injection, acceleration, and extraction. We report on the experimental observation of…