132 research outputs found
3D printing of gas jet nozzles for laser-plasma accelerators
Recent results on laser wakefield acceleration in tailored plasma channels
have underlined the importance of controlling the density profile of the gas
target. In particular it was reported that appropriate density tailoring can
result in improved injection, acceleration and collimation of laser-accelerated
electron beams. To achieve such profiles innovative target designs are
required. For this purpose we have reviewed the usage of additive layer
manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, in order to produce gas jet
nozzles. Notably we have compared the performance of two industry standard
techniques, namely selective laser sintering (SLS) and stereolithography (SLA).
Furthermore we have used the common fused deposition modeling (FDM) to
reproduce basic gas jet designs and used SLA and SLS for more sophisticated
nozzle designs. The nozzles are characterized interferometrically and used for
electron acceleration experiments with the Salle Jaune terawatt laser at
Laboratoire d'Optique Appliqu\'ee
Comment on âTransition to the Relativistic Regime in High Order Harmonic Generationâ
International audienceIn [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 103902 (2007)], Tarasevitch et al. demonstrate the existence of two generation mechanisms for laser high-order harmonicsfrom overdense plasmas. One of these mechanisms leads to harmonics with frequencies up to the maximum plasmafrequency of the target and occurs even at nonrelativistic laser intensities. We show that the mechanism responsiblefor these harmonics is coherent wake emission (CWE), a process that significantly differs from thequalitative model proposed by these authors, and it leads toa different interpretation of several essential features of this emission
Regimes of expansion of a collisional plasma into a vacuum
International audienceThe effect of elastic Coulomb collisions on the one-dimensional expansion of a plasma slab is studied in the classical limit, using an electrostatic particle-in-cell code. Two regimes of interest are identified. For a collision rate of few hundreds of the inverse of the expansion characteristic time the electron distribution function remains isotropic and Maxwellian with a homogeneous temperature, during all the expansion. In this case, the expansion can be approached by a three-dimensional version of the hybrid model developed by Mora [P. Mora, Phys. Rev. E 72, 056401 2005]. When the collision rate becomes somewhat greater than the plasma is divided in two parts: an inner part which expands adiabatically as an ideal gas and an outer part which undergoes an isothermal expansion
Angular momentum evolution in laser-plasma accelerators
The transverse properties of an electron beam are characterized by two
quantities, the emittance which indicates the electron beam extend in the phase
space and the angular momentum which allows for non-planar electron
trajectories. Whereas the emittance of electron beams produced in laser- plasma
accelerator has been measured in several experiments, their angular momentum
has been scarcely studied. It was demonstrated that electrons in laser-plasma
accelerator carry some angular momentum, but its origin was not established.
Here we identify one source of angular momentum growth and we present
experimental results showing that the angular momentum content evolves during
the acceleration
Phase Properties of Laser High-Order Harmonics Generated on Plasma Mirrors
International audienceAs a high-intensity laser-pulse reflects on a plasma mirror, high-order harmonics of the incident frequency can be generated in the reflected beam. We present a numerical study of the phase properties of these individual harmonics, and demonstrate experimentally that they can be coherently controlled through the phase of the driving laser field. The harmonic intrinsic phase, resulting from the generation process, is directly related to the coherent sub-laser-cycle dynamics of plasma electrons, and thus constitutes a new experimental probe of these dynamics
Betatron emission as a diagnostic for injection and acceleration mechanisms in laser-plasma accelerators
Betatron x-ray emission in laser-plasma accelerators is a promising compact
source that may be an alternative to conventional x-ray sources, based on large
scale machines. In addition to its potential as a source, precise measurements
of betatron emission can reveal crucial information about relativistic
laser-plasma interaction. We show that the emission length and the position of
the x-ray emission can be obtained by placing an aperture mask close to the
source, and by measuring the beam profile of the betatron x-ray radiation far
from the aperture mask. The position of the x-ray emission gives information on
plasma wave breaking and hence on the laser non-linear propagation. Moreover,
the measurement of the longitudinal extension helps one to determine whether
the acceleration is limited by pump depletion or dephasing effects. In the case
of multiple injections, it is used to retrieve unambiguously the position in
the plasma of each injection. This technique is also used to study how, in a
capillary discharge, the variations of the delay between the discharge and the
laser pulse affect the interaction. The study reveals that, for a delay
appropriate for laser guiding, the x-ray emission only occurs in the second
half of the capillary: no electrons are injected and accelerated in the first
half.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1104.245
Coherent Wake Emission of High-Order Harmonics from Overdense Plasmas
International audienc
A bremsstrahlung gamma-ray source based on stable ionization injection of electrons into a laser wakefield accelerator
Laser wakefield acceleration permits the generation of ultra-short,
high-brightness relativistic electron beams on a millimeter scale. While those
features are of interest for many applications, the source remains constraint
by the poor stability of the electron injection process. Here we present
results on injection and acceleration of electrons in pure nitrogen and argon.
We observe stable, continuous ionization-induced injection of electrons into
the wakefield for laser powers exceeding a threshold of 7 TW. The beam charge
scales approximately linear with the laser energy and is limited by beam
loading. For 40 TW laser pulses we measure a maximum charge of almost 1 nC per
shot, originating mostly from electrons of less than 10 MeV energy. The
relatively low energy, the high charge and its stability make this source
well-suited for applications such as non-destructive testing. Hence, we
demonstrate the production of energetic radiation via bremsstrahlung conversion
at 1 Hz repetition rate. In accordance with Geant4 Monte-Carlo simulations, we
measure a gamma-ray source size of less than 100 microns for a 0.5 mm tantalum
converter placed at 2 mm from the accelerator exit. Furthermore we present
radiographs of image quality indicators
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