65 research outputs found
Laser-driven plasma waves in capillary tubes
The excitation of plasma waves over a length of up to 8 centimeters is, for
the first time, demon- strated using laser guiding of intense laser pulses
through hydrogen filled glass capillary tubes. The plasma waves are diagnosed
by spectral analysis of the transmitted laser radiation. The dependence of the
spectral redshift, measured as a function of filling pressure, capillary tube
length and incident laser energy, is in excellent agreement with simulation
results. The longitudinal accelerating field inferred from the simulations is
in the range 1 -10 GV/m
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
Demonstration of the synchrotron-type spectrum of laser-produced Betatron radiation
Betatron X-ray radiation in laser-plasma accelerators is produced when
electrons are accelerated and wiggled in the laser-wakefield cavity. This
femtosecond source, producing intense X-ray beams in the multi kiloelectronvolt
range has been observed at different interaction regime using high power laser
from 10 to 100 TW. However, none of the spectral measurement performed were at
sufficient resolution, bandwidth and signal to noise ratio to precisely
determine the shape of spectra with a single laser shot in order to avoid shot
to shot fluctuations. In this letter, the Betatron radiation produced using a
80 TW laser is characterized by using a single photon counting method. We
measure in single shot spectra from 8 to 21 keV with a resolution better than
350 eV. The results obtained are in excellent agreement with theoretical
predictions and demonstrate the synchrotron type nature of this radiation
mechanism. The critical energy is found to be Ec = 5.6 \pm 1 keV for our
experimental conditions. In addition, the features of the source at this energy
range open novel perspectives for applications in time-resolved X-ray science.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Synchrotron x-ray radiation from laser wakefield accelerated electron beams in a plasma channel
Synchrotron x-ray radiation from laser wakefield accelerated electron beams was characterized at the HERCULES facility of the University of Michigan. A mono-energetic electron beam with energy up to 400 MeV was observed in the interaction of an ultra-short laser pulse with a super-sonic gas jet target. The experiments were performed at a peak intensity of 5Ă—1019 W/cm2 by using an adaptive optic. The accelerated electron beam undergoes a so called "betatron" oscillation in an ion channel, where plasma electrons have been expelled by the laser ponderomotive force, and, therefore, emits synchrotron radiation. We observe broad synchrotron x-ray radiation extending up to 30 keV. We find that this radiation is emitted in a beam with a divergence angle as small as 12Ă—4 mrad2 and can have a source size smaller than 3 microns and a peak brightness of 1022 photons/mm2/mrad2/second/0.1% bandwidth, which is comparable to currently existing 3rd generation conventional light sources. This opens up the possibility of using laser-produced "betatron" sources for many applications that currently require conventional synchrotron sources.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/85402/1/jpconf10_244_042026.pd
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