Related papers: High average power ultrafast laser technologies fo…
Compact laser-driven accelerators are versatile and powerful tools of unarguable relevance on societal grounds for the diverse purposes of science, health, security, and technology because they bring enormous practicality to…
We propose a new approach to high-intensity laser-driven electron acceleration in a plasma. Here, we demonstrate that a plasma wave generated by a stimulated forward-scattering of an incident laser pulse can be in a longest acceleration…
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…
Recent experimental and theoretical results have demonstrated the possibility of accelerating electrons in the MeV range by focusing tightly a few-cycle laser beam in ambient air. Using Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations, this configuration…
Propagation distances of intense laser pulses and high-charge electron beams through the plasma are, respectively, limited by diffraction and self-deceleration. This imposes severe constraints on the performance of the two major advanced…
The laser invention more than fifty years ago was a major scientific revolution. Among the different possible gain media, the Free Electron Lasers (FEL) uses free electrons in the periodic permanent magnetic field of an undulator, covering…
A short overview of laser-plasma acceleration of ions is presented. The focus is on some recent experimental results and related theoretical work on advanced regimes. These latter include in particular target normal sheath acceleration…
Laser-plasma acceleration (LPA) is a compact technique to accelerate electron bunches to highly relativistic energies, making it a promising candidate to power radiation sources for industrial or medical applications. We report on the…
A linear electron-positron collider operating at TeV scale energies will provide high precision measurements and allow, for example, precision studies of the Higgs boson as well as searches for physics beyond the standard model. A future…
Intense ultrashort laser pulses propagating through an underdense plasma are able to drive relativistic plasma waves, creating accelerating structures with extreme gradients. These structures represent a new type of compact sources for…
In a laser plasma accelerator (LPA), a short and intense laser pulse propagating in a plasma drives a wakefield (a plasma wave with a relativistic phase velocity) that can sustain extremely large electric fields, enabling compact…
Proton acceleration by ultra-intense laser pulse irradiating a target with cross-section smaller than the laser spot size and connected to a parabolic density channel is investigated. The target splits the laser into two parallel…
A new electron acceleration mechanism is identified that develops when a relativistically intense laser irradiates the wedge of an over-dense plasma. This induces a diffracted electromagnetic wave with a significant longitudinal electric…
The widespread use of high energy particle beams in basic research, medicine and coherent X-ray generation coupled with the large size of modern radio frequency (RF) accelerator devices and facilities has motivated a strong need for…
Laser Plasma Accelerators (LPA) can sustain GeV/m accelerating fields offering outstanding new possibilities for compact applications. Despite the impressive recent developments, the LPA beam quality is still significantly lower than in the…
The radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) of charged particles has been considered a challenging task in laser particle acceleration. Laser-driven proton/ion acceleration has attracted considerable interests due to its underlying physics…
Dielectric laser accelerators (DLAs) use the nearfields created when a laser pulse impinges on a dielectric structure to accelerate charged particles. We provide an overview of the theory of operation of photon driven accelerators, from…
Plasma wakefield accelerators driven by particle beams are capable of providing accelerating gradient several orders of magnitude higher than currently used radio-frequency technology, which could reduce the length of particle accelerators,…
The emergence of multi-petawatt laser facilities is expected to push forward the maximum energy gain that can be achieved in a single stage of a LWFA to tens of GeV, which begs the question - is it likely to impact particle physics by…
This dissertation explores the interaction between high-intensity lasers and plasmas to accelerate electrons and produce radiation via experimental and computational efforts. The laser pulses used in this dissertation have ultrashort…