Multi-GeV Electron Bunches from an All-Optical Laser Wakefield Accelerator

Abstract

We present the first demonstration of multi-GeV laser wakefield acceleration in a fully optically formed plasma waveguide, with an acceleration gradient as high as 25 GeV/m. The guide was formed via self-waveguiding of <15 J, 45 fs (<∼ 300 TW) pulses over 20 cm in a low-density hydrogen gas jet, with accelerated electron bunches driven up to 5 GeV in quasimonoenergetic peaks of relative energy width as narrow as ∼15%, with divergence down to ∼1 mrad and charge up to tens of picocoulombs. Energy gain is inversely correlated with on-axis waveguide density in the range Ne0=(1.3–3.2)×1017 cm−3. We find that shot-to-shot stability of bunch spectra and charge are strongly dependent on the pointing of the injected laser pulse and gas jet uniformity. We also observe evidence of pump depletion-induced dephasing, a consequence of the long optical guiding distance.7 MoreReceived 2 December 2021Revised 4 April 2022Accepted 1 August 2022Corrected 21 October 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.12.031038Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasLaser driven electron accelerationLaser wakefield accelerationAccelerators & BeamsPlasma Physics