Efficient simulation of electron trapping in laser and plasma wakefield acceleration

Journal Article · Tue Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3432685· OSTI ID:21378050

Morshed, S; Antonsen, T M; Palastro, J P ^[1]

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1. Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 (United States)

The two-dimensional quasistatic simulation code WAKE [P. Mora and T. Antonsen, Phys. Plasmas 4, 217 (1997)] used to model laser pulse propagation in tenuous plasma is modified to describe the dynamics of energetic particles. In the original code, all particles were assumed to satisfy the quasistatic approximation, which assumes that the driver and its wakefields are undisturbed during the transit time of plasma electrons through the pulse. Here, WAKE is modified to include the effects of electron trapping and beam loading by introducing a population of beam electrons, which are no longer subject to the quasistatic approximation. Algorithms for populating the group of beam particles are considered and are benchmarked to the full particle-in-cell simulations and experimental results. These modifications to WAKE provide a tool for simulating GeV laser or plasma wakefield acceleration on desktop computers.

• OSTI ID: 21378050
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3432685; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ALGORITHMS
APPROXIMATIONS
BEAM-PLASMA SYSTEMS
ELECTRONS
LASERS
PLASMA
PLASMA GUNS
PLASMA SIMULATION
TRAPPING
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
WAKEFIELD ACCELERATORS
ACCELERATORS
CALCULATION METHODS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
LEPTONS
LINEAR ACCELERATORS
MATHEMATICAL LOGIC
SIMULATION