Related papers: Convergence in nonlinear laser wakefield accelerat…
We report on an experimental demonstration of laser wakefield electron acceleration using a sub-TW power laser by tightly focusing 30-fs laser pulses with only 8 mJ pulse energy on a 100 \mu m scale gas target. The experiments are carried…
Using a periodic electron beam bunch train to resonantly excite plasma wakefields in the quasi-nonlinear (QNL) regime has distinct advantages over employing a single, higher charge bunch. Resonant excitation in the QNL regime can produce…
Understanding dense matter hydrodynamics is critical for predicting plasma behavior in environments relevant to laser-driven inertial confinement fusion. Traditional diagnostic sources face limitations in brightness, spatiotemporal…
Particle acceleration at magnetized purely perpendicular relativistic shocks in electron-ion plasmas are studied by means of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Magnetized shocks with the upstream bulk Lorentz factor $\gamma_1 \gg…
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…
We have investigated the role that the transverse electric field of the laser plays in the acceleration of electrons in a laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) operating in the quasi-blowout regime through particle-in-cell code simulations. In…
We analyze the equilibrium configuration for a modulated beam with sharp boundaries exposed to the fields self-generated by the interaction with a plasma. Through a semi-analytical approach we show the presence of multiple equilibrium…
An improved description for nonlinear plasma wakefields with phase velocities near the speed of light is presented and compared against fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations. These wakefields are excited by intense particle beams or…
Plasma wakefield acceleration (PWFA) is a promising method for reducing the scale and cost of future electron-positron collider experiments by using shorter plasma sections to enhance beam energy. While electron acceleration has already…
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…
Plasma wakefield acceleration in the blowout regime is particularly promising for high-energy acceleration of electron beams because of its potential to simultaneously provide large acceleration gradients and high energy transfer efficiency…
The energy spread in laser-wakefield accelerators is primarily limited by the energy-chirp introduced during the injection and acceleration processes. Here we propose and demonstrate the use of longitudinal density tailoring to adapt the…
The characterization of plasma wakefield acceleration experiments using emitted photons from betatron radiation requires numerical models in support of instrumentation of single-shot, double-differential angular-energy spectra. Precision…
Positron acceleration in plasma wakefield faces significant challenges since the positron beam must be pre-generated and precisely coupled into the wakefield, and most critically, suffers from defocusing issues. Here we propose a scheme…
The phase velocity of the wakefield of a laser wakefield accelerator can, theoretically, be manipulated by shaping the longitudinal plasma density profile, thus controlling the parameters of the generated electron beam. We present an…
We propose to use a frequency doubled pulse colliding with the driving pulse at an acute angle to trigger ionization injection in a laser wakefield accelerator. This scheme effectively reduces the duration that injection occurs, thus high…
Plasma wakefields offer high acceleration gradients, orders of magnitude larger than conventional RF accelerators. However, the achievable luminosity remains relatively low, typically limited by repetition rate and the charge accelerated…
Due to the highly nonlinear nature of the beam-loading, it is at present not possible to analytically determine the beam parameters needed in a two-bunch plasma wakefield accelerator for maintaining a low energy spread. Therefore in this…
An electron injector concept for laser-plasma accelerator was developed in ref [1] and [2] ; it relies on the use of counter-propagating ultrashort laser pulses. In [2], the scheme is as follows: the pump laser pulse generates a large…
We report on experimental measurements of energy transfer efficiencies in a GeV-class laser wakefield accelerator. Both the transfer of energy from the laser to the plasma wakefield, and from the plasma to the accelerated electron beam were…