Signatures of resonantly driven laser-wakefield excitation by a pulse train generated by an optical delay mask

Abstract

Electron plasma waves can be efficiently excited by a resonant train of ultrashort pulses, spatially separated by a plasma wavelength. Generating a pulse train from a single amplified ultrashort pulse may be challenging when dealing with large beams. Here we discuss a pulse splitting technique using a simple delay mask that can be adapted to large diameter petawatt beams. We show via detailed numerical simulations that unique signatures of electrons accelerated by a resonantly excited wakefield can be obtained from realistic focused double-pulse trains obtained from a single-region delay mask.