Formation and stability of a hollow electron beam in the presence of a plasma wake field driven by an ultra-short electron bunch

Abstract

A numerical investigation on the spatiotemporal evolution of an electron beam, externally injected in a plasma in the presence of a plasma wake field, is carried out. The latter is driven by an ultra-short relativistic axially-symmetric femtosecond electron bunch. We first derive a novel Poisson-like equation for the wake potential where the driving term is the ultra-short bunch density, taking suitably into account the interplay between the sharpness and high energy of the bunch. Then, we show that a channel is formed longitudinally, through the externally injected beam while experiencing the effects of the bunch-driven plasma wake field, within the context of thermal wave model. The formation of the channel seems to be a final stage of the 3D evolution of the beam. This involves the appearance of small filaments and bubbles around the longitudinal axis. The bubbles coalesce forming a relatively stable axially-symmetric hollow beam structure.