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Title: Demonstration of passive plasma lensing of a laser wakefield accelerated electron bunch

Journal Article · · Physical Review Accelerators and Beams
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [3];  [6];  [7];  [7];  [8];  [3];  [7];  [1];  [9];  [10]
  1. Friedrich-Schiller-Univ. of Jena, Jena (Germany); Helmholtz Institute Jena, Jena (Germany)
  2. Univ. of Hamburg, Hamburg (Germany)
  3. Friedrich-Schiller-Univ. of Jena, Jena (Germany)
  4. Friedrich-Schiller-Univ. of Jena, Jena (Germany); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  5. Helmholtz Institute Jena, Jena (Germany)
  6. Helmholtz Institute Jena, Jena (Germany); Univ. of Jena, Jena (Germany)
  7. Ludwig-Maximilians-Univ. Munchen, Garching (Germany)
  8. Queens Univ., Belfast (United Kingdom)
  9. Univ. of Hamburg, Hamburg (Germany); Univ. of Strathclyde, Glasgow (United Kingdom)
  10. Friedrich-Schiller-Univ. of Jena, Jena (Germany); Helmholtz Institute Jena, Jena (Germany); Queens Univ., Belfast (United Kingdom)

We report on the first demonstration of passive all-optical plasma lensing using a two-stage setup. An intense femtosecond laser accelerates electrons in a laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) to 100 MeV over millimeter length scales. By adding a second gas target behind the initial LWFA stage we introduce a robust and independently tunable plasma lens. We observe a density dependent reduction of the LWFA electron beam divergence from an initial value of 2.3 mrad, down to 1.4 mrad (rms), when the plasma lens is in operation. Such a plasma lens provides a simple and compact approach for divergence reduction well matched to the mm-scale length of the LWFA accelerator. The focusing forces are provided solely by the plasma and driven by the bunch itself only, making this a highly useful and conceptually new approach to electron beam focusing. Possible applications of this lens are not limited to laser plasma accelerators. Since no active driver is needed the passive plasma lens is also suited for high repetition rate focusing of electron bunches. As a result, its understanding is also required for modeling the evolution of the driving particle bunch in particle driven wake field acceleration.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
TR18-B9; KA 2869/2-1; 05K10SJ2; 03ZIK052; 05K16SJC; AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1307329
Report Number(s):
AC02-76SF00515; PRABFM
Journal Information:
Physical Review Accelerators and Beams, Vol. 19, Issue 7; ISSN 2469-9888
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 18 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (13)

Single-stage plasma-based correlated energy spread compensation for ultrahigh 6D brightness electron beams journal June 2017
Plasma channel undulator excited by high-order laser modes journal December 2017
Radiation reaction studies in an all-optical set-up: experimental limitations journal July 2017
Interferometry for full temporal reconstruction of laser-plasma accelerator-based seeded free electron lasers journal January 2020
Hybrid LWFA–PWFA staging as a beam energy and brightness transformer: conceptual design and simulations
  • Martinez de la Ossa, A.; Assmann, R. W.; Bussmann, M.
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 377, Issue 2151 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2018.0175
journal June 2019
Flexible x-ray source with tunable polarization and orbital angular momentum from Hermite-Gaussian laser modes driven plasma channel wakefield text January 2019
Fundamentals and Applications of Hybrid LWFA-PWFA journal June 2019
Fundamentals and Applications of Hybrid LWFA-PWFA book January 2019
Single-Stage Plasma-Based Correlated Energy Spread Compensation for Ultrahigh 6D Brightness Electron Beams text January 2017
Plasma channel undulator excited by high-order laser modes text January 2017
Fundamentals and Applications of Hybrid LWFA-PWFA text January 2019
Laser-Driven Electron Lensing in Silicon Microstructures text January 2019
Hybrid LWFA $\vert$ PWFA Staging as a Beam Energy and Brightness Transformer : Conceptual Design and Simulations text January 2019

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