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Self-modulated wakefield acceleration in a centimetre self-guiding channel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2012

C. KAMPERIDIS ,
C. BELLEI ,
N. BOURGEOIS ,
M. C. KALUZA ,
K. KRUSHELNICK ,
S. P. D. MANGLES ,
J. R. MARQUES ,
S. R. NAGEL  and
Z. NAJMUDIN
C. KAMPERIDIS
Affiliation:
Imperial College, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, UK ([email protected], [email protected]) TEI of Crete, Centre for Plasma Physics and Lasers, Rethymno, 74100, Greece
C. BELLEI
Affiliation:
Imperial College, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, UK ([email protected], [email protected])
N. BOURGEOIS
Affiliation:
LULI, Ecole Polytechnique–CNRS, Palaiseau, 91128, France
M. C. KALUZA
Affiliation:
Institute for Optics and Quantum Electronics, Max-Wien-Platz, Jena, 07743, Germany
K. KRUSHELNICK
Affiliation:
Imperial College, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, UK ([email protected], [email protected])
S. P. D. MANGLES
Affiliation:
Imperial College, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, UK ([email protected], [email protected])
J. R. MARQUES
Affiliation:
LULI, Ecole Polytechnique–CNRS, Palaiseau, 91128, France
S. R. NAGEL
Affiliation:
Imperial College, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, UK ([email protected], [email protected])
Z. NAJMUDIN
Affiliation:
Imperial College, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ, UK ([email protected], [email protected])
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Abstract

Self-modulated wakefield acceleration was investigated at densities down to ~4 × 1018 cm−3 by propagating the 50 TW 300 fs LULI laser in helium gas jets at lengths up to 1 cm. Long interaction lengths were achieved by closer matching of the initial focal spot size to the matched spot size for these densities. Electrons with energies extending to 180 MeV were observed in broad energy spectra which show some evidence for non-Maxwellian features at high energy. Two-dimensional PIC simulations indicate that the intial laser pulse breaks up into small pulselets that are eventually compressed and focused inside the first few plasma periods, leading to a ‘bubble-like’ acceleration of electron bunches.

Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 78 , Special Issue 4: Progress in Laser Acceleration of Particles , August 2012 , pp. 433 - 440
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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