Related papers: Collimated $\gamma$-ray emission enabled by effici…
The dynamics of electron injection in the direct laser acceleration (DLA) regime was investigated by means of three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations and theoretical analysis. It is shown that when an ultra-intense laser pulse…
Direct laser acceleration (DLA) offers a compact source of high-charge, energetic electrons for generating secondary radiation or neutrons. While DLA in high-density plasma optimizes the energy transfer from a laser pulse to electrons, it…
As one of the leading acceleration mechanisms in laser-driven underdense plasmas, direct laser acceleration (DLA) is capable of producing high-energy-density electron beams in a plasma channel for many applications. However, the mechanism…
Experimental measurements using the OMEGA EP laser facility demonstrated direct laser acceleration (DLA) of electron beams to (505 $\pm$ 75) MeV with (140 $\pm$ 30)~nC of charge from a low-density plasma target using a 400 J, picosecond…
Using three-dimensional kinetic simulations, we examine the emission of collimated gamma-ray beams from structured laser-irradiated targets with a pre-filled cylindrical channel. The channel guides the incident laser pulse, enabling…
Direct Laser Acceleration (DLA) of electrons during a high-energy, picosecond laser interaction with an underdense plasma has been demonstrated to be substantially enhanced by controlling the laser focusing geometry. Experiments using the…
The interaction of a high-power laser with a solid target provides ways to produce beams of $\gamma$-photons. For normal incidence of the laser on the target the beams usually appear in a form of two lobes, which are symmetric with respect…
Relativistic laser pulses can accelerate electrons up to energies of several GeV during the interaction with gaseous targets through the direct laser acceleration (DLA) mechanism. While the electrons are accelerated to high energies, they…
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 irradiation of few nm thick targets by a finite-contrast high-intensity short-pulse laser results in a strong pre-expansion of these targets at the arrival time of the main pulse. The targets decompress to near and lower than critical…
Direct laser acceleration (DLA) enables energy transfer from an ultra-high-intensity laser to plasma electrons and underpins many laser-driven particle and radiation-source concepts. A laser-driven azimuthal plasma magnetic field is a key…
We report on new findings in a laser driven enhanced electron beam generation in the multi MeV energy range at moderate relativistic laser intensities and their applications. In our experiment, an intense sub-picosecond laser pulse…
Direct laser acceleration has proven to be an efficient source of high-charge electron bunches and high brilliance X-rays. However, an analytical description of the acceleration in the interaction with varying plasma density targets is…
Quasi-phase matched direct laser acceleration (DLA) of electrons can be realized with guided, radially polarized laser pulses in density-modulated plasma waveguides. A 3-D particle-in-cell model has been developed to describe the…
We investigate a single-laser scheme for reaching the strong-field QED regime based on direct laser acceleration (DLA) of electrons followed by their head-on collision with the same laser pulse reflected from an overdense foil. In this…
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…
The problem of electromagnetic emission generation in plasma with electron beams is relevant both for practical applications and for interpretation of radio emission processes in astrophysical systems. In this work, we consider the case of…
Recent studies have demonstrated the possibility of accelerating electrons to MeV energies in ambient air using tightly focused laser configurations. In this article, we explore possible strategies to control and optimize the resulting…
The direct laser acceleration (DLA) of electrons in underdense plasmas can provide 100s of nC of electrons accelerated to near-GeV energies using currently available lasers. Here we demonstrate the key role of electron transverse…
Compared with conventional accelerators, laser plasma accelerators can generate high energy ions at a greatly reduced scale, due to their TV/m acceleration gradient. A compact laser plasma accelerator (CLAPA) has been built at the Institute…