Self-Guided Wakefield Experiments Driven by Petawatt-Class Ultrashort Laser Pulses

Author

Mangles, Stuart P D ; Thomas, Alec G R ; Bellei, Claudio ; Dangor, A.E. ; Kamperidis, Christos ; Kneip, Stefan ; Nagel, Sabrina R. ; Willingale, Louise ; Najmudin, Zulfikar

Author_Institution

Blackett Lab., Imperial Coll. London, London

Volume

36

Issue

4

fYear

2008

Firstpage

1715

Lastpage

1721

Abstract

We investigate the extension of self-injecting laser wakefield experiments to the regime that will be accessible with the next generation of petawatt-class ultrashort pulse laser systems. Using nonlinear scalings, current experimental trends, and numerical simulations, we determine the optimal laser and target parameters, i.e., focusing geometry, plasma density, and target length, that are required to increase the electron beam energy (to >1 GeV) without the use of external guiding structures.

Keywords

electron accelerators; electron beams; high-speed optical techniques; particle beam focusing; particle beam injection; plasma accelerators; plasma density; plasma simulation; wakefield accelerators; electron beam energy; focusing geometry; injection mechanism; nonlinear scalings; numerical simulations; optimal laser parameter; petawatt-class ultrashort laser pulses; plasma density; self guided wakefield experiments; target parameter; Acceleration; Electron beams; Laser beams; Laser stability; Laser theory; Optical pulse generation; Optical pulses; Particle beams; Plasma density; Plasma simulation; High intensity laser; plasma accelerators;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2008.2000961

Filename

4599096