Speaker
Description
Two-color ionization injection is a promising method for realizing an all-optical, plasma photocathode. In this method, a nonlinear plasma wakefield is driven by a long-wavelength laser, and the ionization injection occurs using a second, high-intensity laser pulse with a short wavelength. Recent upgrades at the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) of the Brookhaven National Laboratory has provided an ideal opportunity for this experiment by integrating a long-wave infrared (LWIR) CO$_2$ laser pulse (λ~9.2 μm) with a Ti:Sapphire (λ~0.8 μm) laser pulse at the interaction point. Previous simulations have shown the potential for this combination of lasers to produce bright electron beams with normalized emittance of tens of nm [1,2]. In this talk, we present the first results on the impact of a transverse Ti:Sapphire laser pulse on the electrons generated in the CO$_2$-driven LWFA in the self-modulated regime using a ~2.5 TW, 2 ps CO$_2$ laser and a ~ 5 mJ Ti:Sapphire laser. This work lays the foundation towards the realization of the all-optical plasma photocathode experiment as the facility plans upgrades towards >10 TW, sub-ps CO$_2$ pulses and terawatt class Ti:Sapphire lasers.
References:
[1] Schroeder, et al., arXiv:1505.05846 [physics.plasm-ph] (2015)
[2] Xu, et al., Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 17, 061301 (2014)
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the support by U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science under Award No. DE-SC-0014043, and resources of NERSC facility, operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-5CH11231.
