Abstract
We generalize the temporally encoded spectral shifting (TESS) analysis for measuring plasma wakefields using spectral interferometry to dissimilar probe pulses of arbitrary spectral profile and to measuring nonlinear wakefields. We demonstrate that the Gaussian approximation used up until now results in a substantial miscalculation of the wakefield amplitude, by a factor of up to two. A method to accurately measure higher amplitude quasilinear and nonlinear wakefields is suggested, using an extension to the TESS procedure, and we place some limits on its accuracy in these regimes. These extensions and improvements to the analysis demonstrate its potential for rapid and accurate on-shot diagnosis of plasma wakefields, even at low plasma densities.
Highlights
Acceleration of electrons by plasma wakefields has demonstrated much potential, with laser-driven plasma wakefield acceleration (LWFA) [1] producing electrons on the GeV scale over interaction lengths of just a few centimeters [2,3,4], while beam-driven wakefield acceleration (PWFA) [5,6] has used longer, metre scale plasma cells to boost electron energies by 10s of GeV [7,8]
We extend the analysis to the case of nonlinear plasma wakefields and use simulations to show that the wakefield amplitude and frequency can accurately be recovered for quasilinear wakefields, and that the wakefield frequency can still be recovered for strongly nonlinear wakefields
We have extended the temporally encoded spectral shifting (TESS) analysis technique to probe and reference pulses of arbitrary temporal and spectral profile
Summary
Acceleration of electrons by plasma wakefields has demonstrated much potential, with laser-driven plasma wakefield acceleration (LWFA) [1] producing electrons on the GeV scale over interaction lengths of just a few centimeters [2,3,4], while beam-driven wakefield acceleration (PWFA) [5,6] has used longer, metre scale plasma cells to boost electron energies by 10s of GeV [7,8]. The scattered power, which varies with the plasma wave amplitude as Ps ∝ ðδne=ne0Þ2n2e0, is extremely small for weak plasma waves at low densities, requiring intense probe pulses or sensitive detectors It is more common in LWFA experiments to maximise the scattering rate by using a copropagating geometry, where the plasma wave is probed longitudinally (e.g., [15]). Frequency domain interferometry (FDI) [16,17] and holography (FDH) [18] are some of the most sensitive techniques for longitudinally probing rapidly evolving density structures with high temporal resolution In these methods, copropagating probe and reference pulses pass. We extend the analysis to the case of nonlinear plasma wakefields and use simulations to show that the wakefield amplitude and frequency can accurately be recovered for quasilinear wakefields, and that the wakefield frequency can still be recovered for strongly nonlinear wakefields
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