Direct Acceleration of Electrons in a Corrugated Plasma Channel
- Institute for Research in Electrical and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740 (United States)
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Livermore, CA 94550 (United States)
Direct laser acceleration of electrons provides a low power tabletop alternative to laser wakefield accelerators. Until recently, however, direct acceleration has been limited by diffraction, phase matching, and material damage thresholds. The development of the corrugated plasma channel [B. Layer et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 035001 (2007)] has removed all of these limitations and promises to allow direct acceleration of electrons over many centimeters at high gradients using femtosecond lasers [A. G. York et al., Phys Rev. Lett 100, 195001 (2008), J. P. Palastro et al., Phys. Rev. E 77, 036405 (2008)]. We present a simple analytic model of laser propagation in a corrugated plasma channel and examine the laser-electron beam interaction. Simulations show accelerating gradients of several hundred MeV/cm for laser powers much lower than required by standard laser wakefield schemes. In addition, the laser provides a transverse force that confines the high energy electrons on axis, while expelling low energy electrons.
- OSTI ID:
- 21255224
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1086, Issue 1; Conference: 13. advanced accelerator concepts workshop, Santa Cruz, CA (United States), 27 Jul - 2 Aug 2008; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3080910; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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