Supra-bubble regime for laser acceleration of cold electron beams in tenuous plasma

Journal Article · Mon Feb 15 04:00:00 EST 2010 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3309488· OSTI ID:21347135

Geyko, V I; Dodin, I Y; Fisch, N J ^[1]; Fraiman, G M ^[2]

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1. Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544 (United States)
2. Institute of Applied Physics, RAS, 46 Ulyanov Street, Nizhny Novgorod 603950 (Russian Federation)

Relativistic electrons can be accelerated by an ultraintense laser pulse in the 'supra-bubble' regime, that is, in the blow-out regime ahead of the plasma bubble (as opposed to the conventional method, when particles remain inside the bubble). The acceleration is caused by the ponderomotive force of the pulse, via the so-called snow-plow mechanism. The maximum energy gain, DELTAgammaapproxgamma{sub g}a, is attained when the particle Lorentz factor gamma is initially about gamma{sub g}/a, where gamma{sub g} is the pulse group speed Lorentz factor, and a is the laser parameter, proportional to the laser field amplitude. The scheme operates at a < or approx. gamma{sub g}, yielding DELTAgamma of up to that via wakefield acceleration for the same plasma and laser parameters, DELTAgammaapproxgamma{sub g}{sup 2}. The interaction length is shorter than that for the wakefield mechanism but grows with the particle energy, hindering acceleration in multiple stages.

• OSTI ID: 21347135
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 17; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ACCELERATION
BEAMS
ELECTRON BEAMS
HEATING
LASER-RADIATION HEATING
LEPTON BEAMS
LIGHT TRANSMISSION
PARTICLE BEAMS
PLASMA
PLASMA HEATING
PONDEROMOTIVE FORCE
TRANSMISSION