Acceleration Of Electron Bunches Research Articles

Full-coherent free electron laser seeded by 13th- and 15th-order harmonics of near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses

By introducing 13th- (61.7 nm) and 15th-order harmonics (53.4 nm) of femtosecond laser pulses at 800 nm into an undulator of SCSS (SPring-8 Compact SASE Source) test accelerator at RIKEN, these harmonic pulses were amplified by a factor of more than 102 with a high contrast ratio through the interaction between accelerated electron bunches and the harmonic pulses. From numerical simulations of the amplification processes of high-order harmonic pulses in the undulator, optimum conditions of the electron bunch duration interacting with the high-order harmonic pulses were investigated for generating full-coherent and intense pulses in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength region.

High-charge energetic electron bunch generated by intersecting laser pulses

The interaction of two energetic electron bunches generated in the wakefields of two intense intersecting laser pulses in rarefied plasmas is investigated using particle-in-cell simulations. It is found that, with suitable intersection angle between the two laser pulses, the initially independent wakefield accelerated electron bunches can merged into a single one with high charge, energy, and narrow energy spread. The dynamics of the laser-pulse intersection and wake-bubble merging process is also investigated, and the crucial roles of the intersection angle are pointed out and analyzed.

Laser wakefield compression and acceleration of externally injected electron bunches in guiding structures

AbstractFor the considered scheme of the external electron bunch injection in front of a laser pulse, the influence of the nonlinear driving laser pulse dynamics and electron bunch self-action to the processes of electron bunch compression and acceleration in the laser wakefield is analyzed. Self-consistent modelling results confirm that the nonlinear laser pulse dynamics limits the bunch compression due to variations of the phase velocity of the wake. A growth of the injected bunch charge leads to some extent to an increase of the trapped and accelerated bunch charge and to decrease of the trapped bunch radius and emittance due to increased self-focusing bunch. The three-dimensional theoretical model is elaborated and used to describe the propagation of laser pulses in dielectric capillary waveguides under imperfect coupling and focusing conditions with broken cylindrical symmetry. The role of cone entrances to the cylindrical part of a capillary is analyzed, and it is demonstrated that matching cones can considerably increase the transmission of laser pulses through the capillary, but cannot mitigate the requirements on the precision of the laser pulse focusing into a capillary. In order to avoid a speckle structure and strong transverse gradients of the fields, which can prevent the process of regular electron bunch acceleration, one has to ensure a small laser angle of incidence into the capillary not exceeding 1 mrad.

Scattering of relativistic electron beam by two counter-propagating laser pulses: A new approach to Raman X-ray amplification

We present a detailed study of the properties of electron beam injected and trapped in an high intensity optical lattice. By using the hydrodynamic and kinetic approaches, we identified the beam trapping conditions, the high-frequency longitudinal beam eigenmodes and their dependence on the electron angular and energy spread. The coupling of these beam eigenmodes to the laser waves is also considered. This corresponds to the convective parametric instability: a stimulated scattering of two laser beams creating the optical lattice on the trapped electron beam mode. The amplification coefficients for the up-scattered Raman modes propagating parallel to the electron beam are calculated and their dependence on the beam characteristics is analyzed. The study of relativistic electron beams collective behaviour in a guiding and wiggling field has become a common interest for accelerator physics, plasma physics, nonlinear optics and laser science. By wiggling relativistic charged particles one may produce a scattered electromagnetic wave with a wavelength much shorter than the spatial period of the wigglers. This process lays at the basis of a number of techniques of XUV, X-ray and -ray generation, which find numerous applications in the diagnostics from medical physics to fusion science. Here we present a new approach to XUV/X-ray generation, based on the scattering of the bunch of relativistic electrons by a specific electromagnetic structure, called high intensity optical lattice. Such a field is created by the interference of two coherent laser pulses of equal frequencies and intensities, and it represents a standing wave pattern, where charged particles can be trapped. The electron oscillations in such a ponderomotive potential can be coupled to the laser wave field and emitted as high- and low- frequency electromagnetic waves. This process can be employed for generation of coherent radiation in a broad wavelength range extending from the infrared to X-ray domain (1). One of the promising applications of this technique is Raman XUV/X-ray amplification using a relativistic electron beam, propagating through an optical lattice (2, 3). The conventional schemes of backscattering amplification in stationary wigglers impose unrealistically severe limitations on the quality (angular and velocity spread) of the electron beam (4, 7). Raman amplifiers with optical lattices even for moderate laser intensities open a possibility to reduce strongly these limitations and to use laser accelerated electron bunches thus paving a way for compact all-optical systems.

Isolated Attosecond Pulses from Laser-Driven Synchrotron Radiation

A quantitative theory of attosecond pulse generation in relativistically driven overdense plasma slabs is presented based on an explicit analysis of synchrotron-type electron trajectories. The subcycle, field-controlled release, and subsequent nanometer-scale acceleration of relativistic electron bunches under the combined action of the laser and ionic potentials give rise to coherent radiation with a high-frequency cutoff, intensity, and radiation pattern explained in terms of the basic laws of synchrotron radiation. The emerging radiation is confined to time intervals much shorter than the half-cycle of the driver field. This intuitive approach will be instrumental in analyzing and optimizing few-cycle-laser-driven relativistic sources of intense isolated extreme ultraviolet and x-ray pulses.

Enhancement of Electron Bunch Acceleration by the Wakefield Generated with Periodical Chirped Laser Pulse in under Dense Plasma

This paper presents a two dimensional analytical model for a linear laser wakefield generation by the chirped laser pulse and electron bunch acceleration has been studied numerically. It is found that the negative periodical chirp leads to increase the longitudinal and transverse components of the wakefield amplitude by one order of magnitude. In this status, we inject an electron bunch with the initial energy of about 2MeV in front of the periodical chirped laser pulse and we saw the final energy of the trapped electrons arrive to about 0.9Gev in 17mm of plasma length, with an energy spread about 1% and a the emmitance of the order of 0.12 mm mrad.

Energy spread inhibition of compact electron bunch driven by circularly polarized laser pulse

The problem of energy dispersion of a direct laser accelerated electron bunch emerging from a nano-meshed graphene target is investigated. To study the effects of the laser polarization state on the energy spread, numerical calculations and particle-in-cell simulations of evolving one-dimensional confined electron bunch dynamics are performed. It is proved that a circularly polarized laser pulse can inhibit energy dispersion more efficiently than a linearly polarized laser pulse with the same laser and target parameters. That is because the Coulomb expansion of the electron bunch gets more attenuated for a circularly polarized laser pulse compared with a linearly polarized pulse due to the slowly varying temporal laser intensity.

Acceleration of nonmonoenergetic electron bunches injected into a wake wave

The trapping and acceleration of nonmonoenergetic electron bunches in a wake field wave excited by a laser pulse in a plasma channel is studied. Electrons are injected into the region of the wake wave potential maximum at a velocity lower than the phase velocity of the wave. The paper analyzes the grouping of bunch electrons in the energy space emerging in the course of acceleration under certain conditions of their injection into the wake wave and minimizing the energy spread for such electrons. The factors determining the minimal energy spread between bunch electrons are analyzed. The possibility of monoenergetic acceleration of electron bunches generated by modern injectors in a wake wave is analyzed.

Fabrication and Characterization of Quasi-Optical Terahertz Nanorectifiers with Integrated Antennas

We are developing microelectronic terahertz rectifiers by scaling down the dimensions of GaAs Schottky diodes and field-effect transistors to the sub-micron range, and by investigating the effect of on-chip parasitic capacitances on the square-law power detection signal. For broadband operation at THz frequencies the terahertz oscillating signal is fed to the device by integrated lithographic planar antennas, suitably coupled to a silicon substrate lens. Such room-temperature THz detectors can be fabricated in arrays and naturally provide picosecond response time, suitable for detection of coherent THz radiation produced by single electron bunches in accelerators.

Self-modulated wakefield acceleration in a centimetre self-guiding channel

AbstractSelf-modulated wakefield acceleration was investigated at densities down to ~4 × 1018 cm−3 by propagating the 50 TW 300 fs LULI laser in helium gas jets at lengths up to 1 cm. Long interaction lengths were achieved by closer matching of the initial focal spot size to the matched spot size for these densities. Electrons with energies extending to 180 MeV were observed in broad energy spectra which show some evidence for non-Maxwellian features at high energy. Two-dimensional PIC simulations indicate that the intial laser pulse breaks up into small pulselets that are eventually compressed and focused inside the first few plasma periods, leading to a ‘bubble-like’ acceleration of electron bunches.

Acceleration of electron bunches injected into a wake wave

The process of trapping and acceleration of nonmonoenergetic electron bunches by a wake wave excited by a laser pulse in a plasma channel is investigated. The electrons are injected into the vicinity of the maximum of the wakefield potential with a velocity lower than the wave phase velocity. The study is aimed at utilizing specific features of a wakefield with substantially overlapped focusing and accelerating phases for achieving monoenergetic electron acceleration. Conditions are found under which electrons in a finite-length nonmonoenergetic bunch are accelerated to high energies, while the energy spread between them is minimal. The effect of energy grouping of electrons makes it possible to obtain compact high-energy electron bunches with a small energy spread during laser plasma acceleration.

News

News

Electron bunch compression and acceleration in the laser wakefield

Abstract The compression and acceleration of an external electron bunch into the laser wakefield is studied using 3D modeling with the LAPLAC code and compared to analytical predictions. It is shown, for a laser propagating in a plasma channel, that the nonlinear laser pulse dynamics together with the finite laser spot size influence the electron bunch compression and acceleration due to the reduction of the laser pulse group velocity. The transverse bunch dynamics and loading effect determine the final bunch charge and density and restrict the compressed sizes of the trapped and accelerated electron bunch. The dynamics of the electron bunch are illustrated with a set of parameters where the accelerated bunch acquires an energy of the order of 2 GeV, and 1% energy spread with sub-micron sizes.

Laser wakefield acceleration of supershort electron bunches in guiding structures

High gradient acceleration of electrons by plasma waves generated in plasma channels by short intense laser pulses is analyzed. The influence of loading effect and initial emittance on the quality of accelerated electron bunches is studied for the proposed scheme of bunch injection in front of a laser pulse, which opens an opportunity for monoenergetic acceleration of ultra-short electron bunches of submicrometer sizes to high energies.

Coherently enhanced radiation reaction effects in laser-vacuum acceleration of electron bunches

AbstractThe effects of coherently enhanced radiation reaction on the motion of subwavelength electron bunches in interaction with intense laser pulses are analyzed. The radiation reaction force behaves as a radiation pressure in the laser beam direction, combined with a viscous force in the perpendicular direction. Due to Coulomb expansion of the electron bunch, coherent radiation reaction takes effect only in the initial stage of the laser-bunch interaction while the bunch is still smaller than the wavelength. It is shown that this initial stage can have observable effects on the trajectory of the bunch. By scaling the system to larger bunch charges, the radiation reaction effects are strongly increased. On the basis of the usual equation of motion, this increase is shown to be such that radiation reaction may suppress the radial instability normally found in ponderomotive acceleration schemes, thereby enabling the full potential of laser-vacuum electron bunch acceleration to GeV energies. However, the applicability of the used equation of motion still needs to be validated experimentally, which becomes possible using the presented experimental scheme.

Results of a laser-driven electron acceleration experiment and perspectives of application for nuclear studies

High-energy electrons can be produced in interactions of intense, ultra-short laser pulses with plasmas. Experiments conducted in the regime of moderate laser power (a few terawatts [TW]) are attracting increasing attention for their possibility of optimizing the acceleration process. Here we report the successful production of several-MeV electron bunches in interactions of femtosecond laser pulses from a 10 TW tabletop laser with supersonic gas-jets. The laser–plasma interaction and the obtained electron bunches have been characterized in detail, and conditions for stable and reproducible acceleration have been found. The accelerated electron bunches have been characterized by means of the measurement of the induced photo-activation of a gold sample via bremsstrahlung-generation of photons with suitable energy. The obtained result opens up a wide range of possible applications of the compact electron source for the concerns of nuclear physics studies. Some of them are briefly considered in this paper.

Wall-Plug Efficiency and Beam Dynamics in Free-Electron Lasers Using Energy Recovery Linacs

In a high average power free-electron laser (FEL) the wall-plug efficiency is of critical importance in determining the size, complexity, and cost of the overall system. The wall-plug efficiency for the FEL oscillator and amplifier (uniform and tapered wiggler) is strongly dependent on the energy recovery process. A theoretical model for electron beam dynamics in the energy recovery linac is derived and applied to the acceleration and deceleration of nano-Coulomb electron bunches for a tapered FEL amplifier. For the tapered amplifier, the spent electron beam exiting the wiggler consists of trapped and untrapped electrons. Decelerating these two populations using different phases of the radio-frequency wave in the recovery process enhances wall-plug efficiency. For the parameters considered here, the wall-plug efficiency for the tapered amplifier can be ~10% using this approach.

Cherenkov radiation and dielectric based accelerating structures: Wakefield generation, power extraction and energy transfer efficiency

We present here our recent results of the Euclid Techlabs LLC/Argonne National Laboratory/St.Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI" collaboration on wakefield high energy acceleration of electron bunches in dielectric based accelerating structures. This program concentrates primarily on Cherenkov radiation studies providing efficient high energy generation aimed at a future 1 TeV collider. We report here on recent experiments in high power Cherenkov radiation and corresponding dielectric material developments and characterizations. Progress in diamond, quartz and microwave low-loss ceramic structure development in GHz and THz frequency ranges is presented. Beam Breakup effects and transverse bunch stability are discussed as well. We e report on recent progress on tunable dielectric based structure development. A special subject of our paper is transformer ratio enhancement schemes providing energy transfer efficiency for the dielectric based wakefield acceleration.

Modeling laser wakefield accelerator experiments with ultrafast particle-in-cell simulations in boosted frames

The development of new laser systems at the 10 Petawatt range will push laser wakefield accelerators to novel regimes, for which theoretical scalings predict the possibility to accelerate electron bunches up to tens of GeVs in meter-scale plasmas. Numerical simulations will play a crucial role in testing, probing, and optimizing the physical parameters and the setup of future experiments. Fully kinetic simulations are computationally very demanding, pushing the limits of today’s supercomputers. In this paper, the recent developments in the OSIRIS framework [R. A. Fonseca et al., Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. 2331, 342 (2002)] are described, in particular the boosted frame scheme, which leads to a dramatic change in the computational resources required to model laser wakefield accelerators. Results from one-to-one modeling of the next generation of laser systems are discussed, including the confirmation of electron bunch acceleration to the energy frontier.

Quasimonoenergetic GeV electron bunch generation by the wake-field of the chirped laser pulse

One-dimensional nonlinear analysis of wake-field generation and electron bunch acceleration by a chirped laser pulse were investigated numerically. It was found that the optimum linear chirp parameter leads to the wake-field amplitude increase by one order of magnitude and accordingly the acceleration gradient. In our external injection scheme, electrons were accelerated using the initial energy of 100 KeV (γin=1.2). When the pulse passes through the electron bunch most part of the electrons trapped in the first cycle of the laser wake-field and accelerate to about 1 GeV in 1.8 mm. We concluded that the expensive electron preacceleration mechanism could be omitted in a laser-aided electron acceleration scheme.