Related papers: Collimated Hard X-Rays from Hybrid Laser and Plasm…
It is possible using current high intensity laser facilities to reach the quantum radiation reaction regime for energetic electrons. An experiment using a wakefield accelerator to drive GeV electrons into a counterpropagating laser pulse…
An ultra-short (about 30 fs) petawatt laser pulse focused with a wide focal spot (about 100 microns) in a rarefied plasma (electron density of order 10^{17} per cm^3) excites a nonlinear plasma wakefield which can accelerate injected…
We present a novel method for aligning a laser ionized plasma source to a pair of ultra-relativistic electron beams that comprise a plasma wakefield accelerator (PWFA). We achieve alignment by analyzing the plasma afterglow light observed…
Laser-plasma accelerators present a promising alternative to conventional accelerators. To fully exploit the extreme amplitudes of the plasma fields and produce high-quality beams, precise control over electron injection into the…
Self-guided femtosecond laser pulses propagating in low-pressure gas can generate plasma filaments, establishing a new framework for plasma wakefield acceleration. Unlike conventional schemes relying on mechanically confined or preformed…
The FLASHForward experimental facility is a high-performance test-bed for precision plasma-wakefield research, aiming to accelerate high-quality electron beams to GeV-levels in a few centimetres of ionised gas. The plasma is created by…
We show the laser-driven acceleration of unprecedented, collimated ($ 2 \ \mathrm{mrad} $ divergence), and quasi-monoenergetic ($ 25 \ \% $ energy spread) electron beams with energy up to $ 50 \ \mathrm{MeV} $ at $ 1 \ \mathrm{kHz} $…
We propose a setup for positron acceleration consisting of an electron driver and a laser pulse creating a two-fold plasma column structure. The resulting wakefield is capable of accelerating positron bunches over long distances even when…
We demonstrate through high-fidelity particle-in-cell simulations a simple approach for efficiently generating 20+ GeV electron beams with the necessary charge, energy spread, and emittance for use as the injector for an electron arm of a…
We propose a new and simple strategy for controlled ionization-induced trapping of electrons in a beam-driven plasma accelerator. The presented method directly exploits electric wakefields to ionize electrons from a dopant gas and capture…
We report on a direct search for elastic photon-photon scattering using x-ray and $\gamma$ photons from a laser-plasma based experiment. A gamma photon beam produced by a laser wakefield accelerator provided a broadband gamma spectrum…
Motivated by rapid advances in plasma based accelerators, we propose a simple mechanism for the production of highly collimated quasi monochromatic electrons beams. By considering Compton scattering of electrons (in the plasma) with virtual…
The characterization of plasma wakefield acceleration experiments using emitted photons from betatron radiation requires numerical models in support of instrumentation of single-shot, double-differential angular-energy spectra. Precision…
A cosmic acceleration mechanism is introduced which is based on the wakefields excited by the Alfven shocks in a relativistically flowing plasma, where the energy gain per distance of a test particle is Lorentz invariant. We show that there…
Hybrid laser plasma radiofrequency (RF) acceleration architectures signify a promising advancement in addressing the stability challenges associated with traditional laser wakefield accelerators. A thorough theoretical and numerical…
The extraordinary ability of space-charge waves in plasmas to accelerate charged particles at gradients that are orders of magnitude greater than in current accelerators has been well documented. We develop a phenomenological framework for…
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…
Laser Wakefield Acceleration (LWFA) is a promising approach for producing high-brightness electron beams in the GeV energy range, offering significant potential for compact next-generation accelerator facilities. In this work, we present a…
Free-electron lasers (FELs) provide a revolutionary tool for capturing the structure and dynamics of matter in real time at the atomic scale. The size and cost of FELs can be substantially reduced by using laser wakefield acceleration…
In the past decades, beam-driven plasma wakefield acceleration (PWFA) experiments have seen remarkable progress by using high-energy particle beams such as electron, positron and proton beams to drive wakes in neutral gas or pre-ionized…