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Observation of anomalous side-scattering in laser wakefield accelerators

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2018

K. Krushelnick Open the ORCID record for K. Krushelnick [Opens in a new window] ,
A. E. Dangor ,
M. Kaluza ,
S. P. D. Mangles ,
C. D. Murphy ,
Z. Najmudin  and
A. G. R. Thomas
K. Krushelnick*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109, USA
A. E. Dangor
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK
M. Kaluza
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany
S. P. D. Mangles
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK
C. D. Murphy
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK Department of Physics, University of York, York, UK
Z. Najmudin
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK
A. G. R. Thomas
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109, USA
*
Author for correspondence: K. Krushelnick, Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

High-intensity femtosecond laser–plasma interaction experiments were performed to investigate laser–plasma wakefield acceleration in the “bubble” regime. Using a 15 TW laser pulse, the emission of side-scattered radiation was spectrally and spatially resolved and was consequently used to diagnose the evolution of the laser pulse during the acceleration process. Side-scattered emission was observed immediately before wavebreaking at a frequency of ωL + 1.7ωp (where ωL is the laser frequency and ωp is the background plasma frequency). This emission may result from scattering of laser light by large amplitude plasma oscillations generated in the shell of the wakefield “bubble” and which occurs immediately prior to the wavebreaking/injection process. The observed variation of the frequency of scattered light with electron density agrees with theoretical estimates.

Keywords

Electron beamslaser acceleratorsplasmas
Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 391 - 395
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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