Ultrashort laser pulse driven inverse free electron laser accelerator experiment

J T Moody,S Fisher,P Musumeci,S G Anderson,A Tremaine,G Anderson,S Betts

doi:10.1103/physrevaccelbeams.19.021305

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the ultrashort pulse high gradient inverse free electron laser accelerator experiment carried out at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory which demonstrated gradients exceeding $200\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MV}/\mathrm{m}$ using a 4 TW 100 fs long 800 nm $\mathrm{Ti}:\mathrm{Sa}$ laser pulse. Due to the short laser and electron pulse lengths, synchronization was determined to be one of the main challenges in this experiment. This made necessary the implementation of a single-shot, nondestructive, electro-optic sampling based diagnostics to enable time-stamping of each laser accelerator shot with $l100\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{fs}$ accuracy. The results of this experiment are expected to pave the way towards the development of future GeV-class IFEL accelerators.

Highlights

Due to the short laser and electron pulse lengths, synchronization was determined to be one of the main challenges in this experiment. This made necessary the implementation of a single-shot, nondestructive, electro-optic sampling based diagnostics to enable time-stamping of each laser accelerator shot with < 100 fs accuracy
The results of this experiment are expected to pave the way towards the development of future GeV-class inverse free electron laser (IFEL) accelerators
The field of advanced accelerators focuses on finding solutions for high gradient acceleration techniques that could replace traditional radio frequency-based accelerating structures which are limited by breakdown to ∼100 MeV=m fields [1]

Summary

Introduction

Due to the short laser and electron pulse lengths, synchronization was determined to be one of the main challenges in this experiment. This made necessary the implementation of a single-shot, nondestructive, electro-optic sampling based diagnostics to enable time-stamping of each laser accelerator shot with < 100 fs accuracy. The results of this experiment are expected to pave the way towards the development of future GeV-class IFEL accelerators.

Methods

Results

Conclusion