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Betatron x-ray radiation in the self-modulated laser wakefield acceleration regime: prospects for a novel probe at large scale laser facilities

Journal Article · · Nuclear Fusion
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [5];  [6];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [7];  [8];  [6];  [5];  [1];  [3]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). National Ignition Facility (NIF). Photon Sciences
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). National Ignition Facility (NIF). Photon Sciences; Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering
  3. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering
  4. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). National Ignition Facility (NIF). Photon Sciences; Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
  5. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  6. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  7. Univ. of Lisbon (Portugal). Instituto Superior Técnico (IST). Inst. of Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion
  8. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering; Univ. of Lisbon (Portugal). Instituto Superior Técnico (IST). Inst. of Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion
This paper presents an experimental and theoretical study of betatron x-ray radiation from laser wakefield acceleration in the self-modulated regime. Our experiments use picosecond duration laser pulses up to 150 J, for plasmas with electronic densities on the order of 1019 cm-3. In the self-modulated regime, electrons accelerated in the wake of the laser pulse are subject to both the longitudinal plasma and transverse laser electrical fields. As a result, they undergo oscillations and radiate a synchrotron-like spectrum. In our experimental configuration, electrons accelerated up to about 300 MeV, as well as betatron x-ray spectra with energies of 10 s of keV and photon fluxes between 108–1010 photons/eV/Sr are reported here. Our experiments open the prospect of using betatron x-ray radiation for applications, and the source could be competitive with current x-ray backlighting methods on multi-kilojoule laser systems used for high energy density or fusion sciences.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
LLNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) (SC-24)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; AC02-76SF00515; AC52-07NA27344; NA0002950; NA0003873
OSTI ID:
1490417
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1525467
OSTI ID: 22929645
Journal Information:
Nuclear Fusion, Journal Name: Nuclear Fusion Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 59; ISSN 0029-5515
Publisher:
IOP ScienceCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Simulation study of CO 2 laser-plasma interactions and self-modulated wakefield acceleration journal August 2019
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