Generation and pointing stabilization of multi-GeV electron beams from a laser plasma accelerator driven in a pre-formed plasma waveguide

Journal Article · Fri May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4919278· OSTI ID:22410418

Gonsalves, A. J.; Nakamura, K.; Daniels, J.; Mao, H. -S.; Benedetti, C.; Schroeder, C. B.; Tóth, Cs.; Tilborg, J. van; Vay, J. -L.; Geddes, C. G. R.; Esarey, E. ^[1]; Mittelberger, D. E.; Bulanov, S. S.

---

1. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)

Laser pulses with peak power 0.3 PW were used to generate electron beams with energy >4 GeV within a 9 cm-long capillary discharge waveguide operated with a plasma density of ≈7×10{sup 17} cm{sup −3}. Simulations showed that the super-Gaussian near-field laser profile that is typical of high-power femtosecond laser systems reduces the efficacy of guiding in parabolic plasma channels compared with the Gaussian laser pulses that are typically simulated. In the experiments, this was mitigated by increasing the plasma density and hence the contribution of self-guiding. This allowed for the generation of multi-GeV electron beams, but these had angular fluctuation ≳2 mrad rms. Mitigation of capillary damage and more accurate alignment allowed for stable beams to be produced with energy 2.7±0.1 GeV. The pointing fluctuation was 0.6 mrad rms, which was less than the beam divergence of ≲1 mrad full-width-half-maximum.

• OSTI ID: 22410418
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CAPILLARIES
ELECTRON BEAMS
FLUCTUATIONS
GEV RANGE
LASERS
PEAK LOAD
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA GUNS
PULSES
SIMULATION
STABILIZATION
WAVEGUIDES