Excitation of Accelerating Plasma Waves by Counter-propagating Laser Beams

Technical Report · Thu Aug 30 04:00:00 EDT 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/788202· OSTI ID:788202

Shvets, Gennady ^[1]; Fisch, Nathaniel J; Pukhov, and Alexander

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1. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

Generation of accelerating plasma waves using two counter-propagating laser beams is considered. Colliding-beam accelerator requires two laser pulses: the long pump and the short timing beam. We emphasize the similarities and differences between the conventional laser wakefield accelerator and the colliding-beam accelerator (CBA). The highly nonlinear nature of the wake excitation is explained using both nonlinear optics and plasma physics concepts. Two regimes of CBA are considered: (i) the short-pulse regime, where the timing beam is shorter than the plasma period, and (ii) the parametric excitation regime, where the timing beam is longer than the plasma period. Possible future experiments are also outlined.

• Research Organization: Princeton Plasma Physics Lab., NJ (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH03073
• OSTI ID: 788202
• Report Number(s): PPPL-3602
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
COLLIDING BEAMS
EXCITATION
LASER RADIATION
LINEAR COLLIDERS
NONLINEAR OPTICS
PLASMA WAVES
WAKEFIELD ACCELERATORS