Abstract
A novel, flexible method of witness electron bunch generation in plasma wakefield accelerators is described. A quasistationary plasma region is ignited by a focused laser pulse prior to the arrival of the plasma wave. This localized, shapeable optical plasma torch causes a strong distortion of the plasma blowout during passage of the electron driver bunch, leading to collective alteration of plasma electron trajectories and to controlled injection. This optically steered injection is more flexible and faster when compared to hydrodynamically controlled gas density transition injection methods.
Highlights
The use of plasmas for acceleration of electrons is an increasingly vivid topic, fueled by the fundamental advantage that the extremely high electric fields available supersede those in conventional accelerators by many orders of magnitude
The technique is substantially different from a hybrid scheme discussed in [17,20,40], in the context of LWFA, where hydrodynamic expansion is required after optical excitation at near-relativistic intensities, such that a density transition arises on ns timescales due to ion motion
While in typical LWFA driver pulses with intensities of the order of I ≈ 1018 W cm−2 ionize each element of the periodic system, and in most cases even higher ionization threshold (HIT) levels, even low-ionization threshold (LIT) elements are hardly ionizable by the electric fields of typical PWFA electron bunch drivers
Summary
The use of plasmas for acceleration of electrons is an increasingly vivid topic, fueled by the fundamental advantage that the extremely high electric fields available supersede those in conventional accelerators by many orders of magnitude. Optical plasma torch electron bunch generation in plasma wakefield accelerators
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