Related papers: Optical Shock-Enhanced Self-Photon Acceleration
Space-time structured laser pulses feature an intensity peak that can travel at an arbitrary velocity while maintaining a near-constant profile. These pulses can propagate in uniform media, where their frequencies are correlated with…
We examine a regime in which a linearly-polarized laser pulse with relativistic intensity irradiates a sub-critical plasma for much longer than the characteristic electron response time. A steady-state channel is formed in the plasma in…
High peak power ultrafast lasers are widely used in nonlinear spectroscopy but often limit its spectral resolution because of the broad frequency bandwidth of ultrashort laser pulses. Improving the resolution by achieving spectrally narrow…
Since its first demonstration in 2016, the multi-pass spectral broadening technique has covered impressive ranges of pulse energy (3 $\mu$J - 100 mJ) and peak power (4 MW - 100 GW). Energy scaling of this technique into the joule-level is…
We show that for collisions of electrons with a high-intensity laser, discrete photon emissions introduce a transverse beam spread which is distinct from that due to classical (or beam shape) effects. Via numerical simulations, we show that…
Fundamental to many applications of laser pulses in science and technology is an extended interaction length with matter that significantly exceeds the distance over which the pulse would normally diffract and transversely spread. At low…
The sub-luminal phase velocity of electromagnetic waves in free space is generally unobtainable, being closely linked to forbidden faster than light group velocities. The requirement of effective sub-luminal phase-velocity in laser-driven…
We show that both the maximum energy gain and the accelerated beam quality can be efficiently controlled by the plasma density profile. Choosing a proper density gradient one can uplift the dephasing limitation. When a periodic wake field…
Autoresonant phase-locking of the plasma wakefield to the beat frequency of two driving lasers offers advantages over conventional wakefield acceleration methods, since it requires less demanding laser parameters and is robust to variations…
A laser pulse traveling through a plasma can excite large amplitude plasma waves that can be used to accelerate relativistic electron beams in a very short distance---a technique called laser wakefield acceleration. Many wakefield…
The extreme electric fields created in high-intensity laser-plasma interactions could generate energetic ions far more compactly than traditional accelerators. Despite this promise, laser-plasma accelerators have remained stagnant at…
A numerical study on ion acceleration in electrostatic shock waves is presented, with the aim of determining the best plasma configuration to achieve quasi-monoenergetic ion beams in laser-driven systems. It was recently shown that tailored…
The ability to create dynamic, tailored optical potentials has become important across fields ranging from biology to quantum science. We demonstrate a method for the creation of arbitrary optical tweezer potentials using the broadband…
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…
Ultrafast lasers ($< 500$ fs) have enabled laser-matter interactions at intensities exceeding $10^{18} \rm{Wcm}^{-2}$ with only millijoules of laser energy. However, as pulse durations become shorter, larger spectral bandwidths are…
Electron acceleration has been optimized based on 3D PIC simulations of a short laser pulse interacting with low-density plasma targets to find the pulse propagation regime that maximizes the charge of high-energy electron bunches. This…
The cost, size and availability of electron accelerators is dominated by the achievable accelerating gradient. Conventional high-brightness radio-frequency (RF) accelerating structures operate with 30-50 MeV/m gradients. Electron…
Laser wakefield accelerators promise to revolutionise many areas of accelerator science. However, one of the greatest challenges to their widespread adoption is the difficulty in control and optimisation of the accelerator outputs due to…
Presently available high-energy proton beams in circular accelerators carry enough momentum to accelerate high-intensity electron and positron beams to the TeV energy scale over several hundred meters of the plasma with a density of about…
The development of a directional, small-divergence, and short-duration picosecond x-ray probe beam with an energy greater than 50 keV is desirable for high energy density science experiments. We therefore explore through particle-in-cell…