Ultrahigh-intensity optical slow-wave structure for direct laser electron acceleration
- Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland 20742 (United States)
We report the development of corrugated slow-wave plasma guiding structures with application to quasi-phase-matched direct laser acceleration of charged particles. These structures support guided propagation at intensities up to 2x10{sup 17} W/cm{sup 2}, limited at present by our current laser energy and side leakage. Hydrogen, nitrogen, and argon plasma waveguides up to 1.5 cm in length with a corrugation period as short as 35 {mu}m are generated in extended cryogenic cluster jet flows, with corrugation depth approaching 100%. These structures remove the limitations of diffraction, phase matching, and material damage thresholds and promise to allow high-field acceleration of electrons over many centimeters using relatively small femtosecond lasers. We present simulations that show that a laser pulse power of 1.9 TW should allow an acceleration gradient larger than 80 MV/cm. A modest power of only 30 GW would still allow acceleration gradients in excess of 10 MV/cm.
- OSTI ID:
- 21100327
- Journal Information:
- Journal of the Optical Society of America. Part B, Optical Physics, Vol. 25, Issue 7; Other Information: DOI: 10.1364/JOSAB.25.00B137; (c) 2008 Optical Society of America; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0740-3224
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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