Staging of laser-plasma accelerators

Journal Article · Sun May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4948280· OSTI ID:22600255

Tilborg, J. van; Benedetti, C.; Geddes, C. G. R.; Gonsalves, A. J.; Nakamura, K.; Schroeder, C. B.; Esarey, E. ^[1]; Daniels, J. ^[1]; Swanson, K. K.; Shaw, B. H.; Leemans, W. P. ^[1]

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

We present results of an experiment where two laser-plasma-accelerator stages are coupled at a short distance by a plasma mirror. Stable electron beams from the first stage were used to longitudinally probe the dark-current-free, quasi-linear wakefield excited by the laser of the second stage. Changing the arrival time of the electron beam with respect to the second stage laser pulse allowed reconstruction of the temporal wakefield structure, determination of the plasma density, and inference of the length of the electron beam. The first stage electron beam could be focused by an active plasma lens to a spot size smaller than the transverse wake size at the entrance of the second stage. This permitted electron beam trapping, verified by a 100 MeV energy gain.

• OSTI ID: 22600255
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); 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
DISTANCE
ELECTROMAGNETIC LENSES
ELECTRON BEAMS
ELECTRONS
GAIN
LASERS
LENGTH
MEV RANGE
MIRRORS
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA GUNS
PROBES
PULSES
TRAPPING
DARK CURRENT