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Title: Proof-of-principle experiments of laser Wakefield acceleration

Abstract

Recently there has been a great interest in laser-plasma accelerators as possible next-generation particle accelerators because of their potential for ultra high accelerating gradients and compact size compared with conventional accelerators. It is known that the laser pulse is capable of exciting a plasma wave propagating at a phase velocity close to the velocity of light by means of beating two-frequency lasers or an ultra short laser pulse. These schemes came to be known as the Beat Wave Accelerator (BWA) for beating lasers or as the Laser Wakefield Accelerator (LWFA) for a short pulse laser. In this paper, the principle of laser wakefield particle acceleration has been tested by the Nd:glass laser system providing a short pulse with a power of 10 TW and a duration of 1 ps. Electrons accelerated up to 18 MeV/c have been observed by injecting 1 MeV/c electrons emitted from a solid target by an intense laser impact. The accelerating field gradient of 30 GeV/m is inferred.

Authors:
; ;  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. National Lab. for Higher Energy Physics, Ibaraki (Japan) [and others
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Texas Univ., Austin, TX (United States). Inst. for Fusion Studies
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); National Science Foundation, Washington, DC (United States); Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (Japan)
OSTI Identifier:
10158563
Report Number(s):
DOE/ET/53088-659; IFSR-659
ON: DE94012767; BR: 39KG01000/AT0520240; TRN: 94:012915
DOE Contract Number:
FG05-80ET53088
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Apr 1994
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS; WAKEFIELD ACCELERATORS; DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS; EXPERIMENTAL DATA; NEODYMIUM LASERS; BEAT WAVE ACCELERATORS; LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA; 430100; DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, AND OPERATION

Citation Formats

Nakajima, K., Kawakubo, T., and Nakanishi, H. Proof-of-principle experiments of laser Wakefield acceleration. United States: N. p., 1994. Web. doi:10.2172/10158563.
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Nakajima, K., Kawakubo, T., & Nakanishi, H. Proof-of-principle experiments of laser Wakefield acceleration. United States. doi:10.2172/10158563.
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Nakajima, K., Kawakubo, T., and Nakanishi, H. Fri . "Proof-of-principle experiments of laser Wakefield acceleration". United States. doi:10.2172/10158563. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/10158563.
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@article{osti_10158563,
title = {Proof-of-principle experiments of laser Wakefield acceleration},
author = {Nakajima, K. and Kawakubo, T. and Nakanishi, H.},
abstractNote = {Recently there has been a great interest in laser-plasma accelerators as possible next-generation particle accelerators because of their potential for ultra high accelerating gradients and compact size compared with conventional accelerators. It is known that the laser pulse is capable of exciting a plasma wave propagating at a phase velocity close to the velocity of light by means of beating two-frequency lasers or an ultra short laser pulse. These schemes came to be known as the Beat Wave Accelerator (BWA) for beating lasers or as the Laser Wakefield Accelerator (LWFA) for a short pulse laser. In this paper, the principle of laser wakefield particle acceleration has been tested by the Nd:glass laser system providing a short pulse with a power of 10 TW and a duration of 1 ps. Electrons accelerated up to 18 MeV/c have been observed by injecting 1 MeV/c electrons emitted from a solid target by an intense laser impact. The accelerating field gradient of 30 GeV/m is inferred.},
doi = {10.2172/10158563},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1994},
month = {Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1994}
}
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Technical Report:
View Technical Report (0.82 MB)
DOI:  10.2172/10158563
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  • ; ; ; ... - AIP Conference Proceedings
    The principle of laser wakefield particle acceleration was tested by a Nd:glass laser with a power of up to 10 TW and a pulse-duration of 1 ps. Electrons with 1 MeV/c momentum emitted from a solid target by an intense laser impact were used as test particles. The corresponding field gradient achieved was 1.7 GeV/m in the linear regime and 30 GeV/m in the nonlinear, self-modulation regime. The results are consistent with simulations. {copyright} 1995 {ital American Institute of Physics}.

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