556 research outputs found
On Retardation Effects in Space Charge Calculations Of High Current Electron Beams
Laser-plasma accelerators are expected to deliver electron bunches with high
space charge fields. Several recent publications have addressed the impact of
space charge effects on such bunches after the extraction into vacuum.
Artifacts due to the approximation of retardation effects are addressed, which
are typically either neglected or approximated. We discuss a much more
appropriate calculation for the case of laser wakefield acceleration with
negligible retardation artifacts due to the calculation performed in the mean
rest frame. This presented calculation approach also aims at a validation of
other simulation approaches
Enhancing proton acceleration by using composite targets
Efficient laser ion acceleration requires high laser intensities, which can
only be obtained by tightly focusing laser radiation. In the radiation pressure
acceleration regime, where the tightly focused laser driver leads to the
appearance of the fundamental limit for the maximum attainable ion energy, this
limit corresponds to the laser pulse group velocity as well as to another limit
connected with the transverse expansion of the accelerated foil and consequent
onset of the foil transparency. These limits can be relaxed by using composite
targets, consisting of a thin foil followed by a near critical density slab.
Such targets provide guiding of a laser pulse inside a self-generated channel
and background electrons, being snowplowed by the pulse, compensate for the
transverse expansion. The use of composite targets results in a significant
increase in maximum ion energy, compared to a single foil target case.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure
Radiation Pressure Acceleration: the factors limiting maximum attainable ion energy
Radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) is a highly efficient mechanism of
laser-driven ion acceleration, with with near complete transfer of the laser
energy to the ions in the relativistic regime. However, there is a fundamental
limit on the maximum attainable ion energy, which is determined by the group
velocity of the laser. The tightly focused laser pulses have group velocities
smaller than the vacuum light speed, and, since they offer the high intensity
needed for the RPA regime, it is plausible that group velocity effects would
manifest themselves in the experiments involving tightly focused pulses and
thin foils. However, in this case, finite spot size effects are important, and
another limiting factor, the transverse expansion of the target, may dominate
over the group velocity effect. As the laser pulse diffracts after passing the
focus, the target expands accordingly due to the transverse intensity profile
of the laser. Due to this expansion, the areal density of the target decreases,
making it transparent for radiation and effectively terminating the
acceleration. The off-normal incidence of the laser on the target, due either
to the experimental setup, or to the deformation of the target, will also lead
to establishing a limit on maximum ion energy.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
Growth and phase velocity of self-modulated beam-driven plasma waves
A long, relativistic charged particle beam propagating in a plasma is subject
to the self-modulation instability. This instability is analyzed and the growth
rate is calculated, including the phase relation. The phase velocity of the
accelerating field is shown to be significantly less than the drive beam
velocity. These results indicate that the energy gain of a plasma accelerator
driven by a self-modulated beam will be severely limited by dephasing. In the
long-beam, strongly-coupled regime, dephasing is reached in less than four
e-foldings, independent of beam-plasma parameters
Thomson Scattering of Coherent Diffraction Radiation by an Electron Bunch
The paper considers the process of Thomson scattering of coherent diffraction
radiation (CDR) produced by the preceding bunch of the accelerator on one of
the following bunches. It is shown that the yield of scattered hard photons is
proportional to N, where N is the number of electrons per bunch. A
geometry is chosen for the CDR generation and an expression is obtained for the
scattered photon spectrum with regard to the geometry used, that depends in an
explicit form on the bunch size. A technique is proposed for measuring the
bunch length using scattered radiation characteristics.Comment: 14 pages, LATEX, 6 ps.gz figures, submitted to Phys.Rev.
Effects of Hyperbolic Rotation in Minkowski Space on the Modeling of Plasma Accelerators in a Lorentz Boosted Frame
Laser driven plasma accelerators promise much shorter particle accelerators
but their development requires detailed simulations that challenge or exceed
current capabilities. We report the first direct simulations of stages up to 1
TeV from simulations using a Lorentz boosted calculation frame resulting in a
million times speedup, thanks to a frame boost as high as gamma=1300. Effects
of the hyperbolic rotation in Minkowski space resulting from the frame boost on
the laser propagation in the plasma is shown to be key in the mitigation of a
numerical instability that was limiting previous attempts
Ion Acceleration by the Radiation Pressure of Slow Electromagnetic Wave
When the ions are accelerated by the radiation pressure of the laser pulse,
their velocity can not exceed the laser group velocity, in the case when it is
less than the speed of light in vacuum. This is demonstrated in two cases
corresponding to the thin foil target irradiated by a high intensity laser
light and to the hole boring by the laser pulse in the extended plasma
accompanied by the collisionless shock wave formation. It is found that the
beams of accelerated at the collisionless shock wave front ions are unstable
against the Buneman-lke and the Weibel-like instabilities which result in the
ion energy spectrum broadening.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure
Allosteric modulation of the GTPase activity of a bacterial LRRK2 homolog by conformation-specific Nanobodies
Mutations in the Parkinson's disease (PD)-associated protein leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) commonly lead to a reduction of GTPase activity and increase in kinase activity. Therefore, strategies for drug development have mainly been focusing on the design of LRRK2 kinase inhibitors. We recently showed that the central RocCOR domains (Roc: Ras of complex proteins; COR: C-terminal of Roc) of a bacterial LRRK2 homolog cycle between a dimeric and monomeric form concomitant with GTP binding and hydrolysis. PD-associated mutations can slow down GTP hydrolysis by stabilizing the protein in its dimeric form. Here, we report the identification of two Nanobodies (NbRoco1 and NbRoco2) that bind the bacterial Roco protein (CtRoco) in a conformation-specific way, with a preference for the GTP-bound state. NbRoco1 considerably increases the GTP turnover rate of CtRoco and reverts the decrease in GTPase activity caused by a PD-analogous mutation. We show that NbRoco1 exerts its effect by allosterically interfering with the CtRoco dimer–monomer cycle through the destabilization of the dimeric form. Hence, we provide the first proof of principle that allosteric modulation of the RocCOR dimer–monomer cycle can alter its GTPase activity, which might present a potential novel strategy to overcome the effect of LRRK2 PD mutations
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