Vacuum acceleration of electrons in a dynamic laser pulse

Ramsey, D.; Franke, P.; Simpson, T. T.; Froula, D. H.; Palastro, J. P.

doi:10.1103/physreve.102.043207

Vacuum acceleration of electrons in a dynamic laser pulse

Journal Article · Tue Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Physical Review. E

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.102.043207· OSTI ID:1708852

Ramsey, D. ^[1]; Franke, P. ^[2]; Simpson, T. T. ^[2]; ^[2]; Palastro, J. P. ^[2]

Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States); Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester
Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)

A planar laser pulse propagating in vacuum can exhibit an extremely large ponderomotive force. This force, however, cannot impart net energy to an electron: As the pulse overtakes the electron, the initial impulse from its rising edge is completely undone by an equal and opposite impulse from its trailing edge. Here we show that planar-like “flying focus” pulses can break this symmetry, imparting relativistic energies to electrons. The intensity peak of a flying focus—a moving focal point resulting from a chirped laser pulse focused by a chromatic lens—can travel at any subluminal velocity, forward or backward. As a result, an electron can gain enough momentum in the rising edge of the intensity peak to outrun and avoid the trailing edge. Accelerating the intensity peak can further boost the momentum gain. Furthermore, theory and simulations demonstrate that these dynamic intensity peaks can backwards accelerate electrons to the MeV energies required for radiation and electron diffraction probes of high-energy-density materials.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)

Contributing Organization:: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003856

OSTI ID:: 1708852

Journal Information:: Physical Review. E, Journal Name: Physical Review. E Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 102; ISSN 2470-0045

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (49)

Laser driven electron acceleration in vacuum, gases, and plasmas Sprangle, Phillip; Esarey, Eric; Krall, Jonathan Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 3, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.871673	journal	May 1996
Electron acceleration from rest in vacuum by an axicon Gaussian laser beam Salamin, Yousef I. Physical Review A, Vol. 73, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.73.043402	journal	April 2006
Electron Acceleration by a Tightly Focused Laser Beam Salamin, Yousef I.; Keitel, Christoph H. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 88, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.88.095005	journal	February 2002
Physics of laser-driven plasma-based electron accelerators Esarey, E.; Schroeder, C. B.; Leemans, W. P. Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 81, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/revmodphys.81.1229	journal	August 2009
Ponderomotive Laser Acceleration and Focusing in Vacuum for Generation of Attosecond Electron Bunches Stupakov, G. V.; Zolotorev, M. S. The American Physical Society https://doi.org/10.17877/de290r-1650	text	January 2001
Laser electron acceleration in vacuum Haaland, Carsten M. Optics Communications, Vol. 114, Issue 3-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-4018(94)00565-C	journal	February 1995
Hamiltonian formulation of direct laser acceleration in vacuum Eloy, M.; Guerreiro, A.; MendonÇA, J. T. Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 73, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377806006131	journal	October 2007
High-quality electron beams from a laser wakefield accelerator using plasma-channel guiding Geddes, C. G. R.; Toth, Cs.; van Tilborg, J. Nature, Vol. 431, Issue 7008 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02900	journal	September 2004
Monoenergetic beams of relativistic electrons from intense laser–plasma interactions Mangles, S. P. D.; Murphy, C. D.; Najmudin, Z. Nature, Vol. 431, Issue 7008 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02939	journal	September 2004
A laser–plasma accelerator producing monoenergetic electron beams Faure, J.; Glinec, Y.; Pukhov, A. Nature, Vol. 431, Issue 7008 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02963	journal	September 2004
Multistage coupling of independent laser-plasma accelerators Steinke, S.; van Tilborg, J.; Benedetti, C. Nature, Vol. 530, Issue 7589 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16525	journal	February 2016
First lasing and operation of an ångstrom-wavelength free-electron laser Emma, P.; Akre, R.; Arthur, J. Nature Photonics, Vol. 4, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2010.176	journal	August 2010
X-ray free-electron lasers McNeil, Brian W. J.; Thompson, Neil R. Nature Photonics, Vol. 4, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2010.239	journal	November 2010
All-optical Compton gamma-ray source Ta Phuoc, K.; Corde, S.; Thaury, C. Nature Photonics, Vol. 6, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.82	journal	April 2012
Vacuum laser acceleration of relativistic electrons using plasma mirror injectors Thévenet, M.; Leblanc, A.; Kahaly, S. Nature Physics, Vol. 12, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3597	journal	December 2015
Spatiotemporal control of laser intensity Froula, Dustin H.; Turnbull, David; Davies, Andrew S. Nature Photonics, Vol. 12, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-018-0121-8	journal	March 2018
Phase-locked laser-wakefield electron acceleration Caizergues, C.; Smartsev, S.; Malka, V. Nature Photonics, Vol. 14, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-020-0657-2	journal	July 2020
The International Linear Collider Michizono, Shinichiro Nature Reviews Physics, Vol. 1, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-019-0044-4	journal	February 2019
A method of calculating the field over a plane aperture required to produce a given polar diagram Woodward, P. M. Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers - Part IIIA: Radiolocation, Vol. 93, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1049/ji-3a-1.1946.0262	journal	January 1946
Electron bunch acceleration and trapping by the ponderomotive force of an intense short-pulse laser Kong, Q.; Miyazaki, S.; Kawata, S. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 10, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1622952	journal	December 2003
Mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Weathersby, S. P.; Brown, G.; Centurion, M. Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 86, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4926994	journal	July 2015
Confinement of Electrons to the Centre of a Laser Focus Via the Ponderomotive Potential Moore, C. I. Journal of Modern Optics, Vol. 39, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1080/09500349214552191	journal	November 1992
A nonlinear plasma retroreflector for single pulse Compton backscattering Palastro, J. P.; Kaganovich, D.; Gordon, D. New Journal of Physics, Vol. 17, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/2/023072	journal	February 2015
Electron acceleration from rest in vacuum by an axicon Gaussian laser beam Salamin, Yousef I. Physical Review A, Vol. 73, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.73.043402	journal	April 2006
Superponderomotive regime of tunneling ionization Gordon, D. F.; Palastro, J. P.; Hafizi, B. Physical Review A, Vol. 95, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.95.033403	journal	March 2017
Ionization waves of arbitrary velocity driven by a flying focus Palastro, J. P.; Turnbull, D.; Bahk, S. -W. Physical Review A, Vol. 97, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.97.033835	journal	March 2018
Direct longitudinal laser acceleration of electrons in free space Carbajo, Sergio; Nanni, Emilio A.; Wong, Liang Jie Physical Review Accelerators and Beams, Vol. 19, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.19.021303	journal	February 2016
Nonlinear Thomson scattering of intense laser pulses from beams and plasmas Esarey, Eric; Ride, Sally K.; Sprangle, Phillip Physical Review E, Vol. 48, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.48.3003	journal	October 1993
Laser acceleration of electrons in vacuum Esarey, Eric; Sprangle, Phillip; Krall, Jonathan Physical Review E, Vol. 52, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.52.5443	journal	November 1995
Electron acceleration by a laser pulse in a plasma McKinstrie, C. J.; Startsev, E. A. Physical Review E, Vol. 54, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.54.R1070	journal	August 1996
Vacuum beat wave acceleration Hafizi, B.; Ting, A.; Esarey, E. Physical Review E, Vol. 55, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.55.5924	journal	May 1997
Raman Amplification with a Flying Focus Turnbull, D.; Bucht, S.; Davies, A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 120, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.024801	journal	January 2018
Petawatt Laser Guiding and Electron Beam Acceleration to 8 GeV in a Laser-Heated Capillary Discharge Waveguide Gonsalves, A. J.; Nakamura, K.; Daniels, J. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 122, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.084801	journal	February 2019
Photon Acceleration in a Flying Focus Howard, A. J.; Turnbull, D.; Davies, A. S. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 123, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.124801	journal	September 2019
Dephasingless Laser Wakefield Acceleration Palastro, J. P.; Shaw, J. L.; Franke, P. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 124, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.134802	journal	March 2020
Laser Electron Accelerator Tajima, T.; Dawson, J. M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.43.267	journal	July 1979
Observation of Electron Trapping in an Intense Laser Beam Chaloupka, J. L.; Meyerhofer, D. D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 83, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.4538	journal	November 1999
Ponderomotive Laser Acceleration and Focusing in Vacuum for Generation of Attosecond Electron Bunches Stupakov, G. V.; Zolotorev, M. S. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 86, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.5274	journal	June 2001
Electron Acceleration by a Tightly Focused Laser Beam Salamin, Yousef I.; Keitel, Christoph H. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 88, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.095005	journal	February 2002
Visible-Laser Acceleration of Relativistic Electrons in a Semi-Infinite Vacuum Plettner, T.; Byer, R. L.; Colby, E. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 95, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.134801	journal	September 2005
Generating multi-GeV electron bunches using single stage laser wakefield acceleration in a 3D nonlinear regime Lu, W.; Tzoufras, M.; Joshi, C. Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators and Beams, Vol. 10, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.10.061301	journal	June 2007
Physics of laser-driven plasma-based electron accelerators Esarey, E.; Schroeder, C. B.; Leemans, W. P. Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 81, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.81.1229	journal	August 2009
Overview of plasma-based accelerator concepts Esarey, E.; Sprangle, P.; Krall, J. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol. 24, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1109/27.509991	journal	April 1996
A ponderomotive guiding center particle-in-cell code for efficient modeling of laser-plasma interactions Gordon, D. F.; Mori, W. B.; Antonsen, T. M. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol. 28, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1109/27.893300	journal	August 2000
Lasers and Accelerators Lawson, J. D. IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. 26, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.1979.4330749	journal	June 1979
Measurement and control of large diameter ionization waves of arbitrary velocity Franke, Philip; Turnbull, David; Katz, Joseph Optics Express, Vol. 27, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.27.031978	journal	January 2019
Controlling the velocity of a femtosecond laser pulse using refractive lenses Jolly, Spencer W.; Gobert, Olivier; Jeandet, Antoine Optics Express, Vol. 28, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.384512	journal	January 2020
Controlling the velocity of ultrashort light pulses in vacuum through spatio-temporal couplings Sainte-Marie, A.; Gobert, O.; Quéré, F. Optica, Vol. 4, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.4.001298	journal	January 2017
Controlling the velocity of ultrashort light pulses in vacuum through spatio-temporal couplings Quéré, Fabien; Gobert, Olivier; Sainte-Marie, Antonin Figshare https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3884113	collection	January 2017

Similar Records

Flying focus: Spatial and temporal control of intensity for laser-based applications

Journal Article · Wed Mar 20 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:1502402

Electron acceleration and electron-positron pair production by laser in tunnel ionized inhomogeneous plasma

Journal Article · Thu Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:20764560

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
Laser driven electron acceleration
Particle accelerators
Plasma acceleration & new acceleration techniques
Single-particle dynamics

Vacuum acceleration of electrons in a dynamic laser pulse

Citation Formats

References (49)

Similar Records

Related Subjects