433 research outputs found
Self-guided wakefield experiments driven by petawatt class ultra-short laser pulses
We investigate the extension of self-injecting laser wakefield experiments to
the regime that will be accessible with the next generation of petawatt class
ultra-short pulse laser systems. Using linear scalings, current experimental
trends and numerical simulations we determine the optimal laser and target
parameters, i.e. focusing geometry, plasma density and target length, that are
required to increase the electron beam energy (to > 1 GeV) without the use of
external guiding structures.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
Laser-wakefield accelerators as hard x-ray sources for 3D medical imaging of human bone
A bright μm-sized source of hard synchrotron x-rays (critical energy Ecrit > 30 keV) based on the betatron oscillations of laser wakefield accelerated electrons has been developed. The potential of this source for medical imaging was demonstrated by performing micro-computed tomography of a human femoral trabecular bone sample, allowing full 3D reconstruction to a resolution below 50 μm. The use of a 1 cm long wakefield accelerator means that the length of the beamline (excluding the laser) is dominated by the x-ray imaging distances rather than the electron acceleration distances. The source possesses high peak brightness, which allows each image to be recorded with a single exposure and reduces the time required for a full tomographic scan. These properties make this an interesting laboratory source for many tomographic imaging applications
Influence of realistic parameters on state-of-the-art LWFA experiments
We examine the influence of non-ideal plasma-density and non-Gaussian
transverse laser-intensity profiles in the laser wakefield accelerator
analytically and numerically. We find that the characteristic amplitude and
scale length of longitudinal density fluctuations impacts on the final energies
achieved by electron bunches. Conditions that minimize the role of the
longitudinal plasma density fluctuations are found. The influence of higher
order Laguerre-Gaussian laser pulses is also investigated. We find that higher
order laser modes typically lead to lower energy gains. Certain combinations of
higher order modes may, however, lead to higher electron energy gains.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures; Accepted for publication in Plasma Physics and
Controlled Fusio
Electron trapping and acceleration on a downward density ramp: a two-stage approach
In a recent experiment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Geddes et al 2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 215004), electron bunches with about 1MeV mean energy and small absolute energy spread (about 0.3MeV) were produced by plasma wave breaking on a downward density ramp. It was then speculated that such a bunch might be accelerated further in a plasma of low constant density, while mostly preserving its small absolute energy spread. This would then lead to a bunch with a high mean energy and very low relative energy spread. In this paper, trapping of a low-energy, low-spread electron bunch on a downward density ramp, followed by acceleration in a constant-density plasma, has been explored through particle-in-cell simulations. It has been found that the scheme works best when it is used as a separate injection stage for a laserwakefield accelerator, where the injection and acceleration stages are separated by a vacuum gap
Longitudinal Ion Acceleration from High-Intensity Laser Interactions with Underdense Plasma
Longitudinal ion acceleration from high-intensity (I ~ 10^20 Wcm^-2) laser
interactions with helium gas jet targets (n_e ~ 0.04 n_c) have been observed.
The ion beam has a maximum energy for He^2+ of approximately 40 MeV and was
directional along the laser propagation path, with the highest energy ions
being collimated to a cone of less than 10 degrees. 2D particle-in-cell
simulations have been used to investigate the acceleration mechanism. The time
varying magnetic field associated with the fast electron current provides a
contribution to the accelerating electric field as well as providing a
collimating field for the ions. A strong correlation between the plasma density
and the ion acceleration was found. A short plasma scale-length at the vacuum
interface was observed to be beneficial for the maximum ion energies, but the
collimation appears to be improved with longer scale-lengths due to enhanced
magnetic fields in the ramp acceleration region.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure
Optical and photoelectronic properties of a new material:Optoelectronic application
With the aim of studying the optical, electrochemical, and electronic properties of a new porphyrin-based material, we have synthesized a new porphyrinic complex, namely the (4,4-bipyridine)(meso-tetratrifluoromethylphenylporphyrinato)zinc(II) 4,4-bipyridine disolvate dihydrate complex with the formula [Zn(TFMPP)(4,4-bipy)]2(4,4-bipy)2H2O (I). This species is characterized by single-crystal X-ray molecular structure. The optical study is performed by UV–visible absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. The fluorescence intensity presents an emission in the UV–visible range, indicating that this compound can be used as an optoelectronic material. The optical energy gap is 1.95 eV, and the current–voltage characteristics and impedance spectroscopy measurements have been studied to define the electronic properties of the zinc (II) porphyrin complex. The barrier height is calculated, and the space-charge limited current mechanism is found to control the conductance. The results from the electronic study confirm that our porphyrin derivative can be used for various optoelectronic applications
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