Parametric analysis of electron beam quality in laser wakefield acceleration based on the truncated ionization injection mechanism

Abstract

Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) in a gas cell target separating injection and acceleration section has been investigated to produce high-quality electron beams. A detailed study has been performed on controlling the quality of accelerated electron beams using a combination of truncated ionization and density downramp injection mechanisms. For this purpose, extensive two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations have been carried out considering a gas cell target consisting of a hydrogen and nitrogen mixture in the first part and pure hydrogen in the second part. Such a configuration can be realized experimentally using a specially designed capillary setup. Using the parameters already available in the existing experimental setups, we show the generation of an electron beam with a peak energy of 500–600 MeV, relative energy spread less than 5% , normalized beam emittance around 1.5 mm-mrad, and beam charge of 2–5 pC/µm. Our study reveals that the quality of the accelerated electron beam can be independently controlled and manipulated through the beam loading effect by tuning the parameters, e.g. laser focusing position, nitrogen concentration, and gas target profile. These simulation results will be useful for future experimental campaigns on LWFA, particularly at ELI Beamlines.