Abstract
AbstractWe demonstrated experimentally the formation of monoenergetic beams of accelerated electrons by focusing femtosecond laser radiation with an intensity of $2\times 1{0}^{17} ~\mathrm{W} / {\mathrm{cm} }^{2} $ onto the edge of an aluminum foil. The electrons had energy distributions peaking in the 0.2–0.8 MeV range with energy spread less than 20%. The acceleration mechanism related to the generation of a plasma wave as a result of self-modulation instability of a laser pulse in a dense plasma formed by a prepulse (arriving 12 ns before the main pulse) is considered. One-dimensional and two-dimensional Particle in Cell (PIC) simulations of the laser–plasma interaction showed that effective excitation of a plasma wave as well as trapping and acceleration of an electron beam with an energy on the order of 1 MeV may occur in the presence of sharp gradients in plasma density and in the temporal shape of the pulse.
Highlights
Electron wakefield acceleration by intense subpicosecond laser radiation[1,2] is a promising field of research in highenergy physics
We report the results of experimental and theoretical studies of a source of accelerated electrons that can be used for injection in schemes of laser–plasma acceleration of electrons in a plasma wave[13,14]
The experiment on irradiation of an aluminum foil edge by a focused high-intensity femtosecond laser pulse showed generation of highly collimated quasi-monochromatic electron beams whose direction coincided with the laser beam propagation direction
Summary
Electron wakefield acceleration by intense subpicosecond laser radiation[1,2] is a promising field of research in highenergy physics. Trapping of electrons by a plasma wake is one of the key problems for laser–plasma acceleration. The initial momentum of the electrons has to be sufficient for them to stay in an accelerating phase of the plasma wave traveling with speed close to the speed of light[1]. Many solutions have been proposed to solve the problem of electron trapping, such as external injection[3,4], self-injection by a nonlinear plasma wave in the so-called bubble regime[5,6,7], counterpropagating laser pulses[8], using a mixture of gases, one of which has a high ionization threshold[9,10,11], or plasma density gradients (downramp)[12].
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