Related papers: Waveform control of relativistic electron dynamics…
The physics of energy transfer between the laser and the plasma in laser wakefield accelerators is studied. We find that wake excitation by arbitrary laser shapes can be parameterized using the total pulse energy and pulse depletion length.…
Understanding the target dynamics during its interaction with a relativistic ultrashort laser pulse is a challenging fundamental multi-physics problem involving at least atomic and solid-state physics, plasma physics, and laser physics.…
Injection of well-defined, high-quality electron populations into plasma waves is a key challenge of plasma wakefield accelerators. Here, we report on the first experimental demonstration of plasma density downramp injection in an…
A density perturbation produced in an underdense plasma was used to improve the quality of electron bunches produced in the laser-plasma wakefield acceleration scheme. Quasi-monoenergetic electrons were generated by controlled injection in…
In the frame of laser-driven wakefield acceleration, the main characteristics oflaser propagation and plasma wave excitation are described, with an emphasis onthe role of propagation distance for electron acceleration. To…
We present the first experimental confirmation that a laser-wakefield accelerator produced by a flying focus pulse is able to maintain the coherent structures necessary to accelerate electrons to relativistic energies. Through a combination…
The effect of laser focusing conditions on the evolution of relativistic plasma waves in laser wakefield accelerators is studied both experimentally and with particle-in-cell simulations. For short focal length ($w_0 < \lambda_p$)…
An effective theory of laser--plasma based particle acceleration is presented. Here we treated the plasma as a continuous medium with an index of refraction $n_{m}$ in which a single electron propagates. Because of the simplicity of this…
We report on the first results of laser plasma wakefield acceleration driven by ultrashort mid-infrared laser pulses (\lambda= 3.9 \mu m, 100 fs, 0.25 TW), which enable near- and above-critical density interactions with moderate-density gas…
The concept of a hybrid laser wakefield/direct laser plasma accelerator is proposed. Relativistic electrons undergoing resonant betatron oscillations inside the plasma bubble created by a laser pulse are accelerated by gaining energy…
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…
This is brief review of acceleration of electrons in plasma wakefields driven by either intense laser pulses or particle beams following lectures at the 2019 CERN Accelerator School on plasma accelerators, held at Sesimbra, Portugal. The…
The physics governing electron acceleration by a relativistically intense laser are not confined to the critical density surface, they also pervade the sub-critical plasma in front of the target. Here, particles can gain many times the…
We study the energetics of wake excitation during the laser-plasma interaction in application to laser wakefield accelerators. We find that both the wake amplitude and the accelerating efficiency (transformer ratio) can be maximized by…
The simultaneous laser-driven acceleration and angular manipulation of the fast electron beam is experimentally demonstrated. The bunch of multi-MeV energy charged particles is generated during the propagation of the femtosecond laser pulse…
The plasma-based acceleration is an encouraging technique to overcome the limits of the accelerating gradient in the conventional RF acceleration. A plasma accelerator is able to provide accelerating fields up to hundreds of $GeV/m$, paving…
We propose a twisted plasma accelerator capable of generating relativistic electron vortex beams with helical current profiles. The angular momentum of these vortex bunches is quantized, dominates their transverse motion, and results in…
Numerical simulations of laser-plasma interactions demonstrate the generation of axially polarized electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) that radiate away energy with a characteristic frequency determined by the plasma frequency, in the THz range…
In the design of laser plasma electron injectors for multi-stage laser driven wakefield accelerators, the control of plasma density is a key element to stabilize the acceleration process. A cell with variable parameters is used to confine…
At the laser acceleration of self-injected electron bunch by plasma wakefield it is important to form bunch with small energy spread and small size. It has been shown that laser-pulse shaping on radius, intensity and shape controls…