Study of electron acceleration and x-ray radiation as a function of plasma density in capillary-guided laser wakefield accelerators
- Laboratoire de Physique des Gaz et des Plasmas, CNRS-Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay (France)
- Department of Physics, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, S-22100 Lund (Sweden)
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and CNEA-CAB (Argentina)
Laser wakefield electron acceleration in the blow-out regime and the associated betatron X-ray radiation were investigated experimentally as a function of the plasma density in a configuration where the laser is guided. Dielectric capillary tubes were employed to assist the laser keeping self-focused over a long distance by collecting the laser energy around its central focal spot. With a 40 fs, 16 TW pulsed laser, electron bunches with tens of pC charge were measured to be accelerated to an energy up to 300 MeV, accompanied by X-ray emission with a peak brightness of the order of 10{sup 21} ph/s/mm{sup 2}/mrad{sup 2}/0.1%BW. Electron trapping and acceleration were studied using the emitted X-ray beam distribution to map the acceleration process; the number of betatron oscillations performed by the electrons was inferred from the correlation between measured X-ray fluence and beam charge. A study of the stability of electron and X-ray generation suggests that the fluctuation of X-ray emission can be reduced by stabilizing the beam charge. The experimental results are in good agreement with 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation.
- OSTI ID:
- 22220664
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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