Electron acceleration and optical guiding in the laser wakefield accelerator

Conference · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992 · AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States)

OSTI ID:6659976

Sprangle, P; Esarey, E; Krall, J; Joyce, G; Ting, A ^[1]

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1. Beam Physics Branch, Plasma Physics Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375-5000 (United States)

The laser wakefield acceleration concept is studied using a general 2D formulation based on relativistic fluid equations. Simulations of an intense laser pulse propagating in a plasma address both optical guiding and wakefield generation issues. The ponderomotive forces associated with the laser pulse envelope expels virtually all of the plasma electrons, resulting in the generation of large amplitude accelerating and focusing fields. It is shown that relativistic guiding is ineffective in preventing the diffraction of short pulses and long pulses are broken up into beamlet segments due to wakefield effects. The use of preformed plasma density channels or tailored pulse profiles allows intense laser propagation over many Rayleigh lengths. Large amplitude wakefields can be generated over long distances in these cases and are suitable for electron trapping, acceleration, and focusing.

• OSTI ID: 6659976
• Report Number(s): CONF-9206193--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States) Journal Volume: 279:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
430200* -- Particle Accelerators-- Beam Dynamics
Field Calculations
& Ion Optics
ACCELERATION
ACCELERATORS
BEAMS
ELECTRON BEAMS
FOCUSING
LASERS
LEPTON BEAMS
LINEAR ACCELERATORS
PARTICLE BEAMS
PLASMA
PLASMA FLUID EQUATIONS
RELATIVISTIC PLASMA
TRAPPING
WAKEFIELD ACCELERATORS