Related papers: Extremely intense laser-based electron acceleratio…
Laser-plasma acceleration is considered as a modern method of accelerating bunches using a wakefield excited by a laser pulse. This paper demonstrates the use of a longitudinally inhomogeneous increasing plasma density gradient in a conical…
We review recent PIC simulation results which show that double-sided irradiaton of a thin overdense plasma slab by ultra-intense laser pulses from both sides can lead to sustained comoving acceleration of surface electrons to energies much…
The radiation pressure acceleration regime of laser ion acceleration requires high intensity laser pulses to function efficiently. Moreover the foil should be opaque for incident radiation during the interaction to ensure maximum momentum…
The propagation of intense laser pulses and the generation of high energy electrons from the underdense plasmas are investigated using two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. When the ratio of the laser power and a critical power of…
A free electron can temporarily gain a very significant amount of energy if it is overrun by an intense electromagnetic wave. In principle, this process would permit large enhancements in the center-of-mass energy of electron-electron,…
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…
We report an overall enhancement of a laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) using the ionization injection in a mixture of 0.3 % nitrogen gas in 99.7 % helium gas. Upon the interaction of 30 TW, 30 fs laser pulses with a gas jet of the above…
Using a kilojoule class laser, we demonstrate for the first time that high-contrast picosecond pulses are advantageous for ion acceleration. We show that a laser pulse with optimum duration and a large focal spot accelerates electrons…
Laser wakefield accelerators rely on the extremely high electric fields of nonlinear plasma waves to trap and accelerate electrons to relativistic energies over short distances. When driven strongly enough, plasma waves break, trapping a…
The dynamics of energetic particles in strong electromagnetic fields can be heavily influenced by the energy loss arising from the emission of radiation during acceleration, known as radiation reaction. When interacting with a high-energy…
The emission from an electron in the field of a relativistically strong laser pulse is analyzed. At the pulse intensities of \ge 10^{22} W/cm^2 the emission from counter-propagating electrons is modified by the effects of Quantum…
The substantial angular divergence of electron beams produced by direct laser acceleration is often considered as an inherent negative feature of the mechanism. The divergence however arises primarily because the standard approach relies on…
We have detected the presence of very high intensity surface waves that are excited during plasma waveguided laser wakefield acceleration. Wakefield acceleration can be enchanced by the introduction of an ``all optical" plasma waveguide…
In laser-plasma experiments, we observed that ion acceleration from the Coulomb explosion of the plasma channel bored by the laser, is prevented when multiple plasma instabilities such as filamentation and hosing, and nonlinear coherent…
The interaction of two laser pulses in an underdense plasma has proven to be able to inject electrons in plasma waves, thus providing a stable and tunable source of electrons. Whereas previous works focused on the "beatwave" injection…
Exact closed-form solutions to Maxwell's equations are used to investigate electron acceleration driven by radially polarized laser beams in the nonparaxial and ultrashort pulse regime. Besides allowing for higher energy gains, such beams…
When a relativistic, femtosecond laser pulse enters a waveguide, the pulse energy is coupled into waveguide optical modes. The longitudinal laser field effectively accelerates electrons along the axis of the channel, while the asymmetric…
Experimental results, supported by precise modelling, demonstrate optimisation of a plasma-based injector with intermediate laser pulse energy ($<1$ J), corresponding to a normalised vector potential $a_0 = 2.15$, using ionisation injection…
Today's high-intensity laser facilities produce short pulses can, in tight focus, reach peak intensities of $10^{22}\,\mathrm{Wcm}^{-2}$ and, in long focus, wakefield-accelerate electrons to GeV energies. The radiation-reaction--dominated…
We present a short review of recent progress in studying QED effects of interaction of ultra-relativistic laser pulses with vacuum and $e^-e^+$ plasma. The development of laser technologies promises very rapid growth of laser intensities in…