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Title: Production and applications of quasi-monoenergetic electron bunches in laser-plasma based accelerators

Abstract

Plasmas are attractive media for the next generation of compact particle accelerators because they can sustain electric fields larger than those in conventional accelerators by three orders of magnitude. However, until now, plasma-based accelerators have produced relatively poor quality electron beams even though for most practical applications, high quality beams are required. In particular, beams from laser plasma-based accelerators tend to have a large divergence and very large energy spreads, meaning that different particles travel at different speeds. The combination of these two problems makes it difficult to utilize these beams. Here, we demonstrate the production of high quality and high energy electron beams from laser-plasma interaction: in a distance of 3 mm, a very collimated and quasi-monoenergetic electron beam is emitted with a 0.5 nanocoulomb charge at 170 {+-} 20 MeV. In this regime, we have observed very nonlinear phenomena, such as self-focusing and temporal self-shortenning down to 10 fs durations. Both phenomena increase the excitation of the wakefield. The laser pulse drives a highly nonlinear wakefield, able to trap and accelerate plasma background electrons to a single energy. We will review the different regimes of electron acceleration and we will show how enhanced performances can be reached withmore » state-of-the-art ultrashort laser systems. Applications such as gamma radiography of such electron beams will also be discussed.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ;  [1]
  1. Laboratoire d' Optique Appliquee, Ecole Polytechnique, ENSTA, CNRS, UMR 7639, 91761 Palaiseau (France)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
20798469
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
AIP Conference Proceedings
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 827; Journal Issue: 1; Conference: 3. international conference on superstrong fields in plasmas, Varenna (Italy), 19-24 Sep 2005; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2195217; (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0094-243X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; ACCELERATION; BEAM BUNCHING; ELECTRIC FIELDS; ELECTRON BEAMS; ELECTRONS; EXCITATION; GAMMA RADIOGRAPHY; LASER RADIATION; LASERS; MEV RANGE; NONLINEAR PROBLEMS; PERFORMANCE; PLASMA; PULSES; REVIEWS; TRAPS; WAKEFIELD ACCELERATORS

Citation Formats

Glinec, Y, Faure, J, Ewald, F, Lifschitz, A, and Malka, V. Production and applications of quasi-monoenergetic electron bunches in laser-plasma based accelerators. United States: N. p., 2006. Web. doi:10.1063/1.2195217.
Glinec, Y, Faure, J, Ewald, F, Lifschitz, A, & Malka, V. Production and applications of quasi-monoenergetic electron bunches in laser-plasma based accelerators. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2195217
Glinec, Y, Faure, J, Ewald, F, Lifschitz, A, and Malka, V. 2006. "Production and applications of quasi-monoenergetic electron bunches in laser-plasma based accelerators". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2195217.
@article{osti_20798469,
title = {Production and applications of quasi-monoenergetic electron bunches in laser-plasma based accelerators},
author = {Glinec, Y and Faure, J and Ewald, F and Lifschitz, A and Malka, V},
abstractNote = {Plasmas are attractive media for the next generation of compact particle accelerators because they can sustain electric fields larger than those in conventional accelerators by three orders of magnitude. However, until now, plasma-based accelerators have produced relatively poor quality electron beams even though for most practical applications, high quality beams are required. In particular, beams from laser plasma-based accelerators tend to have a large divergence and very large energy spreads, meaning that different particles travel at different speeds. The combination of these two problems makes it difficult to utilize these beams. Here, we demonstrate the production of high quality and high energy electron beams from laser-plasma interaction: in a distance of 3 mm, a very collimated and quasi-monoenergetic electron beam is emitted with a 0.5 nanocoulomb charge at 170 {+-} 20 MeV. In this regime, we have observed very nonlinear phenomena, such as self-focusing and temporal self-shortenning down to 10 fs durations. Both phenomena increase the excitation of the wakefield. The laser pulse drives a highly nonlinear wakefield, able to trap and accelerate plasma background electrons to a single energy. We will review the different regimes of electron acceleration and we will show how enhanced performances can be reached with state-of-the-art ultrashort laser systems. Applications such as gamma radiography of such electron beams will also be discussed.},
doi = {10.1063/1.2195217},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/20798469}, journal = {AIP Conference Proceedings},
issn = {0094-243X},
number = 1,
volume = 827,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Apr 07 00:00:00 EDT 2006},
month = {Fri Apr 07 00:00:00 EDT 2006}
}