Conveners
WG1: Laser-Plasma Wakefield Acceleration: Session 1
- Yong Ma (University of Michigan)
- Marlene Turner (LBNL)
- Irina Petrushina (Stony Brook University)
WG1: Laser-Plasma Wakefield Acceleration: Session 3
- Yong Ma (University of Michigan)
- Marlene Turner (LBNL)
- Irina Petrushina (Stony Brook University)
WG1: Laser-Plasma Wakefield Acceleration: Session 4
- Yong Ma (University of Michigan)
- Irina Petrushina (Stony Brook University)
- Marlene Turner (LBNL)
WG1: Laser-Plasma Wakefield Acceleration: Session 6
- Irina Petrushina (Stony Brook University)
- Marlene Turner (LBNL)
- Yong Ma (University of Michigan)
WG1: Laser-Plasma Wakefield Acceleration: Session 8
- Irina Petrushina (Stony Brook University)
- Marlene Turner (LBNL)
- Yong Ma (University of Michigan)
We show the recent results of electron injection into the laser wakefield accelerators by interfering two intense, nearly colinear laser pulses in underdense plasma [1, 2]. In the experiment, electrons could be injected into either laser wakefields, or both, depending on the relative delay between two laser pulses’ arrival time to the interference point. Particle-in-cell simulations revealed...
One of the two long-term applications of plasma-based accelerators is to develop the fifth-generation light source such as a compact free electron laser (FEL), which requires the generation of ultrahigh brightness electron bunches [1]. Recently, self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) by bunches from both laser- and beam-driven plasma accelerators have been observed [2, 3]. If the drive...
We report on the injection of 35MeV electron bunches into a laser-driven plasma wakefield at the CLARA linear accelerator, Daresbury Laboratory, UK. In this initial proof-of-principle experiment, we observed the broadening of the energy spectrum of 6ps electron bunches injected into a plasma, demonstrating successful acceleration/deceleration of electrons within the wakefield. We discuss...
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...
Recent experiments [1] have demonstrated acceleration of electron bunches up to 5 GeV in long (20 cm) low density (~10^17 cm^-3) ionization-injected plasma waveguides [2]. The spectra of the recorded electron bunches showed multiple quasi-monoenergetic peaks with resolution limited energy spreads ~15%. For eventual development of a 10 GeV laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) module for a staged...
The multi-pulse laser wakefield acceleration (MP-LWFA) scheme [1] provides a route for GeV-scale accelerators operating at kilohertz-repetition-rates driven by picosecond-duration laser pulses such as those available from thin-disk lasers. We recently published theoretical work proposing a new scheme of GeV accelerator based on MP-LWFA, which we call the Plasma-Modulated, Plasma Accelerator...
The energy required to drive a large-amplitude plasma wave can be delivered over many plasma periods, rather than in a single period, if the driving pulse is modulated. This approach opens up plasma accelerators to novel laser technologies which can provide the required energy at high pulse repetition rates, and with high wall-plug efficiency. We recently proposed [PRL 127, 184801 (2021)] that...
Spatiotemporal control refers to a class of optical techniques for structuring a laser pulse with space-time dependent properties, including moving focal points, dynamic spot sizes, and evolving orbital angular momentum. These structured pulses have the potential to enhance a number of laser-plasma applications, including laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) [1,2]. Here we introduce the concept...
The extremely high electric fields sustainable by a plasma make the Laser Wakefield Acceleration (LWFA) the most compact technique to generate very highly relativistic electron beams up to the GeV regime. The limited repetition rate and low efficiency of this technology has, to date, prevented to unleash its full potential as a unique source for basic research, biomedical applications and high...
To date only solid-state laser pulses of wavelength 𝜆 ~ 1 micron have been powerful enough to drive laser wakefield accelerators (LWFAs). Chirped-pulse-amplified multi-terawatt, ~1 ps laser pulses of 𝜆 ~ 10 µm are now emerging from mixed-isotope, high-pressure CO$_2$ laser technology [1]. Such pulses open new opportunities to drive large ($R_b \sim 300$ µm) bubbles in low-density ($n_e <...
The study of laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) using long wavelength infrared laser drivers is a promising path for future laser-driven electron accelerators when compared to traditional near-infrared laser drivers operating at $0.8-1$ $\mu\rm{m}$ central wavelength [1,2]. For a fixed laser intensity I, lasers with longer wavelengths $\lambda$ have larger ponderomotive potential ($\propto$...
Laser-plasma accelerators (LPAs) operating in the bubble regime require driver lasers with relativistic intensities and pulse durations that are significantly shorter than the plasma wavelengths. This severely limits the laser technology that can be used to drive LPAs and with that their wide spread and the currently achievable LPA parameters, such as repetition rate. Here, we report a widely...
Many potential applications of plasma accelerators - such as light sources and future particle colliders - require the stable generation of multi-GeV electron bunches at high (>kHz) repetition rate. A consequent goal for current research into laser-driven plasma accelerators involves the development of waveguides capable of operating at densities of ~1017 cm-3, over...
For the creation of matter-antimatter pairs from the quantum vacuum via the Breit-Wheeler effect, an intense laser and energetic γ-rays need to interact with each other. At the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center the Breit-Wheeler experiment in the perturbative regime has been accomplished in 1997 but was not yet implemented in the non-perturbative regime, where the laser strength parameter...
Hydrodynamic [1,2] and conditioned hydrodynamic [3,4] optical-field-ionised plasma channels are promising candidates to support low-density, high repetition-rate multi-GeV laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) stages. They are generated by focusing an ultrashort pulse into neutral gas, forming a hot column of plasma via optical field ionization, which expands hydrodynamically to form a plasma...
We study the generation of spatiotemporal optical vortices (STOVs) from self-focusing processes in plasma and their role in mediating intrapulse energy transport in intense, self-guided laser pulses using fully three-dimensional, particle-in-cell simulations.
In previous work, STOVs were observed both in experiment and in simulation to emerge from self-focusing collapse arrest from...
We report on a single-shot longitudinal phase-space reconstruction diagnostic for an electron beam in a laser wakefield accelerator via the experimental observation of distinct periodic modulations in the angularly resolved spectrum. Such modulated angular spectra arise as a result of the direct interaction between the ultra-relativistic electron beam and the laser driver in the presence of...
Laser Wakefield Acceleration (LWFA) is a process by which high gradient plasma waves are excited by a laser leading to the acceleration of electrons. The process is highly nonlinear leading to difficulties in developing 3 dimensional models for a priori, and/or ab initio prediction.
Recent experiments at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory’s (RAL) Central Laser Facility (CLF) in the United...
We have conducted experiments at the JeTi-200 laser facility ($\lambda_0=800nm$, spotsize $w_0=22\mu m$, pulse length $\tau=23 fs$, $a_0 = 2.4$) to investigate the contribution of laser polarization and carrier envelop phase (CEP) -fluctuations on the electron beam pointing jitter in laser wakefield accelerators(LWFAs). Furthermore, we developed a theory describing the transverse dynamics of...
Colliding pulse injection of electron beams into a laser plasma accelerator (LPA), thus producing compact, stable, and monoenergetic electron beams, has important applications for narrow bandwidth Thomson gamma ray sources and novel x-ray free-electron lasers. The colliding laser pulses are independently optimized in terms of energy, beam size, and pulse compression. The spatiotemporal...
