A Laser-Accelerator Injector Based on Laser Ionization and Ponderomotive Acceleration of Electrons

Journal Article · Mon Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1999 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.1688· OSTI ID:321546

Moore, C I; Ting, A; McNaught, S J; Qiu, J; Burris, H R; Sprangle, P ^[1]

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1. Beam Physics Branch, Plasma Physics Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. 20375 (United States)

A new laser-accelerator injector based on the high-energy electrons ejected from a laser focus following the ionization of high-charge states of gases has been investigated. This method can generate electron pulses with MeV energies and pulse widths substantially less than the laser pulse width using terawatt lasers. Experiments at intensities of 3{times}10{sup 18} W/cm {sup 2} show that two highly directional electron beams with energies up to 340thinspthinspkeV are produced in the laser polarization direction. These highly directional beams are inconsistent with simulation results using Ammosov-Delone-Krainov (ADK) tunneling theory to model the ionization process. It is shown that this is likely due to the release of electrons with larger canonical momentum than predicted by ADK theory. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}

• OSTI ID: 321546
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 82; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
ACCELERATION
COLLECTIVE ACCELERATORS
ELECTRON BEAMS
LASER RADIATION
PHOTOIONIZATION
PLASMA ACCELERATION
PONDEROMOTIVE FORCE