Related papers: Self-seeded photon acceleration by electron beam-d…
Plasma wakefields offer high acceleration gradients, orders of magnitude larger than conventional RF accelerators. However, the achievable luminosity remains relatively low, typically limited by repetition rate and the charge accelerated…
We present an experimental demonstration of a bright multi-MeV gamma source driven by a petawatt laser. The source generates on average $(1.2\pm0.6)\times10^9$ photons above 1 MeV per pulse, exceeding those of previous all-optical sources…
We revisit the matching conditions for self-guided laser pulse propagation in plasma and refine their formulation to maximize the energy of electrons produced via laser wakefield acceleration. Bayesian optimization, combined with…
Laser-plasma accelerators offer a compact means of producing high-energy electron beams, but their performance is fundamentally limited by dephasing between the accelerated electrons and the plasma wave. To overcome this limitation, we…
We investigate the extension of self-injecting laser wakefield experiments to the regime that will be accessible with the next generation of petawatt class ultra-short pulse laser systems. Using linear scalings, current experimental trends…
Beam-driven collinear wakefield accelerators (CWAs) that operate by using slow-wave structures or plasmas hold great promise toward reducing the size of contemporary accelerators. Sustainable acceleration of charged particles to high…
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…
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…
X-ray free-electron lasers are large and complex machines, limited by electron beam brightness. Here we show through start-to-end simulations how to realise compact, robust and tunable X-ray lasers in the water window, based on ultra-bright…
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…
In the present work, we demonstrate for the first time a proof-of-principle experiment for nanoparticle-assisted laser wakefield acceleration. The nanoparticles, generated through laser ablation of aluminium, were introduced into the plasma…
Advances in the generation of relativistic intensity pulses with wavelengths in the X-ray regime, through high harmonic generation from near-critical plasmas, opens up the possibility of X-ray driven wakefield acceleration. The similarity…
We expand on the material that was published in the previous Proceedings of the CERN Accelerator School on Plasma Wakefield Acceleration. The material focused on Plasma Wakefield Acceleration in the short, narrow bunch regime. After a brief…
We demonstrate laser wakefield acceleration of quasi-monoenergetic electron bunches up to 15 MeV at 1 kHz repetition rate with 2.5 pC charge per bunch and a core with < 7 mrad beam divergence. Acceleration is driven by 5 fs, < 2.7 mJ laser…
Laser wakefield acceleration offers the promise of a compact electron accelerator for generating a multi-GeV electron beam using the huge field gradient induced by an intense laser pulse, compared to conventional rf accelerators. However,…
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…
We show using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations and theoretical analysis that a high-quality electron beam whose density is modulated at angstrom scales can be generated directly using density downramp injection in a periodically modulated…
Next-generation plasma-based accelerators can push electron beams to GeV energies within centimetre distances. The plasma, excited by a driver pulse, is indeed able to sustain huge electric fields that can efficiently accelerate a trailing…
We report a laser wakefield acceleration of electron beams up to 130 MeV from laser-driven 4-mm long nitrogen gas jet. By using a moderate laser intensity (3.5*10^18 W.cm^(-2)) and relatively low plasma densities (0.8*10^18 cm^(-3) to…
The electric field in laser-driven plasma wakefield acceleration is orders of magnitude higher than conventional radio-frequency cavities, but the energy gain is limited by dephasing between the ultra-relativistic electron bunch and the…