Title :
Femtosecond electron bunches from colliding laser pulses in plasmas
Author :
Esarey, E. ; Hubbard, R.F. ; Leemans, W.P. ; Ting, A. ; Sprangle, P.
Author_Institution :
Div. of Plasma Phys., Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA
Abstract :
An injector and accelerator is analyzed that uses three collinear laser pulses in a plasma: a pump pulse, which generates a large wakefield (⩾20 GV/m), and two counterpropagating injection pulses. When the injection pulses collide, a slow phase velocity beat wave is generated that injects electrons into the fast wakefield for acceleration. Particle tracking simulations in 1-D with injection pulse intensities near 1017 W/cm2 indicate the production of high energy electrons with bunch durations as short as 3 fs, energy spreads as small as 0.3%, and densities as high as 1018 cm-3
Keywords :
electron beams; particle beam bunching; plasma light propagation; wakefield accelerators; 3 fs; bunch duration; colliding laser pulses; collinear laser pulses; counterpropagating injection pulses; electron bunches; energy spread; high energy electrons; particle tracking simulation; pump pulse; wakefield; Acceleration; Electrons; Laser excitation; Optical pulse generation; Optical pulses; Particle tracking; Plasma accelerators; Plasma simulation; Plasma waves; Pump lasers;
Conference_Titel :
Particle Accelerator Conference, 1997. Proceedings of the 1997
Conference_Location :
Vancouver, BC
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4376-X
DOI :
10.1109/PAC.1997.749786
