Tunable Electron Multibunch Production in Plasma Wakefield Accelerators

Synchronized, independently tunable and focused $\mu$J-class laser pulses are used to release multiple electron populations via photo-ionization inside an electron-beam driven plasma wave. By varying the laser foci in the laboratory frame and the position of the underdense photocathodes in the co-moving frame, the delays between the produced bunches and their energies are adjusted. The resulting multibunches have ultra-high quality and brightness, allowing for hitherto impossible bunch configurations such as spatially overlapping bunch populations with strictly separated energies, which opens up a new regime for light sources such as free-electron-lasers

An ultrashort pulse ultra-violet radiation undulator source driven by a laser plasma wakefield accelerator

Narrow band undulator radiation tuneable over the wavelength range of 150–260 nm has been produced by short electron bunches from a 2 mm long laser plasma wakefield accelerator based on a 20 TW femtosecond laser system. The number of photons measured is up to 9 × 106 per shot for a 100 period undulator, with a mean peak brilliance of 1 × 1018 photons/s/mrad2/mm2/0.1% bandwidth. Simulations estimate that the driving electron bunch r.m.s. duration is as short as 3 fs when the electron beam has energy of 120–130 MeV with the radiation pulse duration in the range of 50–100 fs

EMITTANCE AND ENERGY SPREAD MEASUREMENTS OF RELATIVISTICS ELECTRONS FROM LASER-DRIVEN ACCELERATOR

Abstract In this paper, we present a single-shot transverse emittance measurement for 125 ± 3 MeV electron beam using pepper-pot technique. A normalised transverse emittance as low as 1.1 ± 0.1 -mm-mrad was measured using this method. Considering 60 consecutive shots, an average normalised emittance of ε rms,x,y =2.2 ± 0.7, 2.3 ± 0.6 -mm-mrad was obtained, which is comparable to a conventional linear accelerator. We also obtained high energy monoenergetic electron beam with relative energy spread less than 1%. The measured transverse emittance characterises the quality of an electron beam generated from laser-driven accelerator. Brightness, parallelism and focusability are all functions of the emittance. The low emittance and energy spread indicates that this type of accelerator is suitable for compact free electron laser driver

High-charge 10 GeV electron acceleration in a 10 cm nanoparticle-assisted hybrid wakefield accelerator

In an electron wakefield accelerator, an intense laser pulse or charged particle beam excites plasma waves. Under proper conditions, electrons from the background plasma are trapped in the plasma wave and accelerated to ultra-relativistic velocities. We present recent results from a proof-of-principle wakefield acceleration experiment that reveal a unique synergy between a laser-driven and particle-driven accelerator: a high-charge laser-wakefield accelerated electron bunch can drive its own wakefield while simultaneously drawing energy from the laser pulse via direct laser acceleration. This process continues to accelerate electrons beyond the usual decelerating phase of the wakefield, thus reaching much higher energies. We find that the 10-centimeter-long nanoparticle-assisted wakefield accelerator can generate 340 pC, 10.4+-0.6 GeV electron bunches with 3.4 GeV RMS convolved energy spread and 0.9 mrad RMS divergence. It can also produce bunches with lower energy, a few percent energy spread, and a higher charge. This synergistic mechanism and the simplicity of the experimental setup represent a step closer to compact tabletop particle accelerators suitable for applications requiring high charge at high energies, such as free electron lasers or radiation sources producing muon beams

An ultra-high gain and efficient amplifier based on Raman amplification in plasma

Raman amplification arising from the excitation of a density echelon in plasma could lead to amplifiers that significantly exceed current power limits of conventional laser media. Here we show that 1-100 J pump pulses can amplify picojoule seed pulses to nearly joule level. The extremely high gain also leads to significant amplification of backscattered radiation from "noise", arising from stochastic plasma fluctuations that competes with externally injected seed pulses, which are amplified to similar levels at the highest pump energies. The pump energy is scattered into the seed at an oblique angle with 14 J sr(-1), and net gains of more than eight orders of magnitude. The maximum gain coefficient, of 180 cm(-1), exceeds high-power solid-state amplifying media by orders of magnitude. The observation of a minimum of 640 J sr(-1) directly backscattered from noise, corresponding to approximate to 10% of the pump energy in the observation solid angle, implies potential overall efficiencies greater than 10%. © The Author(s) 20174

Intravenous alteplase for stroke with unknown time of onset guided by advanced imaging: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data

Background: Patients who have had a stroke with unknown time of onset have been previously excluded from thrombolysis. We aimed to establish whether intravenous alteplase is safe and effective in such patients when salvageable tissue has been identified with imaging biomarkers. Methods: We did a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data for trials published before Sept 21, 2020. Randomised trials of intravenous alteplase versus standard of care or placebo in adults with stroke with unknown time of onset with perfusion-diffusion MRI, perfusion CT, or MRI with diffusion weighted imaging-fluid attenuated inversion recovery (DWI-FLAIR) mismatch were eligible. The primary outcome was favourable functional outcome (score of 0–1 on the modified Rankin Scale [mRS]) at 90 days indicating no disability using an unconditional mixed-effect logistic-regression model fitted to estimate the treatment effect. Secondary outcomes were mRS shift towards a better functional outcome and independent outcome (mRS 0–2) at 90 days. Safety outcomes included death, severe disability or death (mRS score 4–6), and symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage. This study is registered with PROSPERO, CRD42020166903. Findings: Of 249 identified abstracts, four trials met our eligibility criteria for inclusion: WAKE-UP, EXTEND, THAWS, and ECASS-4. The four trials provided individual patient data for 843 individuals, of whom 429 (51%) were assigned to alteplase and 414 (49%) to placebo or standard care. A favourable outcome occurred in 199 (47%) of 420 patients with alteplase and in 160 (39%) of 409 patients among controls (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1·49 [95% CI 1·10–2·03]; p=0·011), with low heterogeneity across studies (I2=27%). Alteplase was associated with a significant shift towards better functional outcome (adjusted common OR 1·38 [95% CI 1·05–1·80]; p=0·019), and a higher odds of independent outcome (adjusted OR 1·50 [1·06–2·12]; p=0·022). In the alteplase group, 90 (21%) patients were severely disabled or died (mRS score 4–6), compared with 102 (25%) patients in the control group (adjusted OR 0·76 [0·52–1·11]; p=0·15). 27 (6%) patients died in the alteplase group and 14 (3%) patients died among controls (adjusted OR 2·06 [1·03–4·09]; p=0·040). The prevalence of symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage was higher in the alteplase group than among controls (11 [3%] vs two [<1%], adjusted OR 5·58 [1·22–25·50]; p=0·024). Interpretation: In patients who have had a stroke with unknown time of onset with a DWI-FLAIR or perfusion mismatch, intravenous alteplase resulted in better functional outcome at 90 days than placebo or standard care. A net benefit was observed for all functional outcomes despite an increased risk of symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage. Although there were more deaths with alteplase than placebo, there were fewer cases of severe disability or death. Funding: None

Thermionic vacuum arc diagnostic using emissive probe

In this paper, experimental results are presented on study of the copper thermionic vacuum arc using emissive probe. Experimental results show that plasma potential is direct related to the discharge voltage and it shows nonlinear distribution from the anodic melted spot towards to the plasma extremity

The role of the gas/plasma plume and self-focusing in a gas-filled capillary discharge waveguide for high-power laser-plasma applications

The role of the gas/plasma plume at the entrance of a gas-filled capillary discharge plasma waveguide in increasing the laser intensity has been investigated. Distinction is made between neutral gas and hot plasma plumes that, respectively, develop before and after discharge breakdown. Time-averaged measurements show that the on-axis plasma density of a fully expanded plasma plume over this region is similar to that inside the waveguide. Above the critical power, relativistic and ponderomotive self-focusing lead to an increase in the intensity, which can be nearly a factor of 2 compared with the case without a plume. When used as a laser plasma wakefield accelerator, the enhancement of intensity can lead to prompt electron injection very close to the entrance of the waveguide. Self-focusing occurs within two Rayleigh lengths of the waveguide entrance plane in the region, where the laser beam is converging. Analytical theory and numerical simulations show that, for a density of 3.0 × 1018 cm−3, the peak normalized laser vector potential, a 0, increases from 1.0 to 1.85 close to the entrance plane of the capillary compared with a 0 = 1.41 when the plume is neglected

Novel gas target for laser wakefield accelerators

A novel gas target for interactions between high power lasers and gaseous medium, especially for laser wakefield accelerators, has been designed, manufactured, and characterized. The gas target has been designed to provide a uniform density profile along the central gas cell axis by combining a gas cell and slit nozzle. The gas density has been tuned from ∼1017 atoms/cm3 to ∼1019 atoms/cm3 and the gas target length can be varied from 0 to 10 cm; both changes can be made simultaneously while keeping the uniform gas profile. The gas density profile inside the gas cell has been measured using interferometry and validated using computational fluid dynamics. © 2018 Author(s

Imaging of superluminal scattering sources: Time reversal, pair creation and annihilation

We investigate the kinematics of light sources using high-speed imaging techniques. We show that intriguing effects, such as temporal inversion, pair creation and annihilation, appear for sources moving at superluminal velocities