Related papers: Similarity for ultra-relativistic laser plasmas an…
We study the energetics of wake excitation during the laser-plasma interaction in application to laser wakefield accelerators. We find that both the wake amplitude and the accelerating efficiency (transformer ratio) can be maximized by…
An extended analytical model for particle dynamics in fields of a highly-nonlinear plasma wake field (the bubble or blow out regime) is derived. A recently proposed piecewise model (Kostyukov et al., New J. Phys., {\bf 12}, 045009 (2010))…
Laser accelerated protons can be a complimentary source for treatment of oncological diseases to the existing hadron therapy facilities. We demonstrate how the protons, accelerated from near-critical density plasmas by laser pulses having…
A new concept is proposed for accelerating positrons in a nonlinear plasma wakefield accelerator. By loading the wakefield (back of the plasma bubble) with a short electron bunch, an extended area of excessive plasma electron accumulation…
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…
Preformed plasma channels are essential for guiding high-power laser pulses over extended distances in laser wakefield accelerators, enabling the generation of multi-GeV electron beams for applications such as free-electron lasers and…
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…
Motivated by the need to predict plasma density and temperature distributions created in the early stages of high-intensity laser-plasma interactions, we develop a fluid model of plasma expansion into vacuum that incorporates external…
Propagation of short and ultra-intense laser pulses in a semi-infinite space of overdense hydrogen plasma is analyzed via fully-relativistic, real geometry particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations including radiation friction. The relativistic…
The interaction of a multi-Petawatt, pancake-shaped laser pulse with an unmagnetized plasma is studied analytically and numerically in the regime of fully relativistic electron jitter velocities and in the context of the laser wakefield…
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…
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…
Plasma accelerators driven by intense laser or particle beams provide gigavolt-per-meter accelerating fields, promising to drastically shrink particle accelerators for high-energy physics and photon science. Applications such as linear…
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 propagation of intense laser pulses and the generation of high energy electrons from the underdense plasmas are investigated using two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. When the ratio of the laser power and a critical power of…
The acceleration of polarized electrons, positrons, protons and ions in strong laser and plasma fields is a very attractive option to obtain polarized beams in the multi-MeV range. Recently, there has been substantial progress in the…
Plasma acceleration has emerged as a promising technology for future particle accelerators, particularly linear colliders. Significant progress has been made in recent decades toward high-efficiency and high-quality acceleration of…
Using particle-in-cell simulations of relativistic laser plasma wakes in the presence of an external magnetic field, we demonstrate that there exists a parameter window where the dynamics of the magnetized wake channel are largely…
Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) using high repetition rate mJ-class laser systems brings unique opportunities for a broad range of applications. In order to meet the conditions required for the electron acceleration with lasers…
Particle-in-cell codes are now standard tools for studying ultra-intense laser-plasma interactions. Motivated by direct laser acceleration of electrons in sub-critical plasmas, we examine temporal resolution requirements that must be…