Related papers: Hard X-rays from laser-wakefield accelerators in d…
We propose a plasma-based high-energy lepton accelerator, in which a weakly focusing plasma structure is formed near the beam axis. The structure preserves the emittance of the accelerated beam and produces low radiation losses. Moreover,…
We clarify how intense laser irradiation leads to an enhancement of rare processes that may occur within atoms. Non-perturbative calculation using a coherent laser beam gives an exact, time dependent formula of the enhancement factor in the…
Relativistic electrons colliding with intense counterpropagating laser pulses are expected to lose energy through radiation reaction. However, we reveal a counterintuitive regime where reflected leptons (including incident electrons,…
We demonstrate a high-energy, high-charge, electron source produced by the irradiation of a novel gaseous target by an ultra-intense femtosecond laser pulse. By exploiting a nonsymmetrical nozzle, we increased the total charge of the…
Accelerating particles to high energies in plasma wakefields is considered to be a promising technique with good energy efficiency and high gradient. While important progress has been made in plasma-based electron acceleration, positron…
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,…
The accelerating gradients in conventional linear accelerators are currently limited to 100 MV per meter. Plasma-based accelerators have the ability to sustain accelerating gradients which are several orders of magnitude greater than that…
Theoretical investigations show that linearly and radially polarized multiterawatt and petawatt laser beams, focused to subwavelength waist radii, can directly accelerate protons and carbon nuclei, over micron-size distances, to the…
We report on the depletion and power amplification of the driving laser pulse in a strongly-driven laser wakefield accelerator. Simultaneous measurement of the transmitted pulse energy and temporal shape indicate an increase in peak power…
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…
Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) may enable the next generation of TeV-scale lepton colliders. Reaching such energies will likely require multiple LWFA stages to overcome limitations on the energy gain achievable in a single stage. The…
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…
High-energy-density flows through dense matter are needed for effective progress in the production of laser-driven intense sources of energetic particles and radiation, in driving matter to extreme temperatures creating state regimes…
Laser-based electron acceleration is attracting strong interest from the conventional accelerator community due to its outstanding characteristics in terms of high initial energy, low emittance and high beam current. Unfortunately, such…
Laser-driven plasma accelerators provide acceleration gradients three orders of magnitude greater than conventional machines, offering the potential to shrink the length of accelerators by the same factor. To date, laser-acceleration of…
In laser-wakefield acceleration, an ultra-intense laser pulse is focused into an underdense plasma in order to accelerate electrons to relativistic velocities. In most cases, the pulses consist of multiple optical cycles and the interaction…
Since its birth, the laser has been extraordinarily effective in the study and applications of laser-matter interaction at the atomic and molecular level and in the nonlinear optics of the bound electron. In its early life, the laser was…
Laser-driven X-ray sources are an emerging alternative to conventional X-ray tubes and synchrotron sources. We present results on microtomographic X-ray imaging of a cancellous human bone sample using synchrotron-like betatron radiation.…
Accelerating particles to relativistic energies over very short distances using lasers has been a long standing goal in physics. Among the various schemes proposed for electrons, vacuum laser acceleration has attracted considerable interest…
Table-top laser-plasma ion accelerators seldom achieve narrow energy spreads, and never without serious compromises in efficiency, particle yield, etc. Using massive computer simulations, we identify a self-organizing scheme that exploits…