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Title: Modeling of 10 GeV-1 TeV laser-plasma accelerators using Lorentz boosted simulations

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3663841· OSTI ID:22047140
; ; ; ;  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
  2. Tech-X Corporation, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (United States)
  3. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)

Modeling of laser-plasma wakefield accelerators in an optimal frame of reference [J.-L. Vay, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 130405 (2007)] allows direct and efficient full-scale modeling of deeply depleted and beam loaded laser-plasma stages of 10 GeV-1 TeV (parameters not computationally accessible otherwise). This verifies the scaling of plasma accelerators to very high energies and accurately models the laser evolution and the accelerated electron beam transverse dynamics and energy spread. Over 4, 5, and 6 orders of magnitude speedup is achieved for the modeling of 10 GeV, 100 GeV, and 1 TeV class stages, respectively. Agreement at the percentage level is demonstrated between simulations using different frames of reference for a 0.1 GeV class stage. Obtaining these speedups and levels of accuracy was permitted by solutions for handling data input (in particular, particle and laser beams injection) and output in a relativistically boosted frame of reference, as well as mitigation of a high-frequency instability that otherwise limits effectiveness.

OSTI ID:
22047140
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 12; Other Information: (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English