Defining optical injector parameters for optimal acceleration bunches

Abstract

Summary form only given. This paper presents a methodology for defining an optimal initial electron energy distribution, in conjunction with the details of the LWFA to be used, in order to provided a specified accelerated electron bunch distribution. For instance, for a given laser power and accelerating plasma density a specific approximate Hamiltonian function can be identified. Given this Hamiltonian and a desired distribution for the energy spread and phase for the accelerated electrons, an initial energy distribution and phase for the electrons can be identified. These initial conditions can be used to deduce an optimal effective temperature and bunch length for the optical injection beam. Results of both analytic analysis and simulations will be presented and implications for planned LWFA experiments and NRL will be discussed.