Laser Wake Research Articles

Generation of high energy laser-driven electron and proton sources with the 200 TW system VEGA 2 at the Centro de Laseres Pulsados

The Centro de Laseres Pulsados in Salamanca, Spain has recently started operation phase and the first user access period on the 6 J 30 fs 200 TW system (VEGA 2) already started at the beginning of 2018. In this paper we report on two commissioning experiments recently performed on the VEGA 2 system in preparation for the user campaign. VEGA 2 system has been tested in different configurations depending on the focusing optics and targets used. One configuration (long focal length $F=130$ cm) is for underdense laser–matter interaction where VEGA 2 is focused onto a low density gas-jet generating electron beams (via laser wake field acceleration mechanism) with maximum energy up to 500 MeV and an X-ray betatron source with a 10 keV critical energy. A second configuration (short focal length $F=40$ cm) is for overdense laser–matter interaction where VEGA 2 is focused onto a $5~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ thick Al target generating a proton beam with a maximum energy of 10 MeV and temperature of 2.5 MeV. In this paper we present preliminary experimental results.

HELL: High-Energy Electrons by Laser Light, a User-Oriented Experimental Platform at ELI Beamlines

Laser wake field acceleration (LWFA) is an efficient method to accelerate electron beams to high energy. This is a benefit in research infrastructures where a multidisciplinary environment can benefit from the different secondary sources enabled, having the opportunity to extend the range of applications that is accessible and to develop new ideas for fundamental studies. The ELI Beamline project is oriented to deliver such beams to the scientific community both for applied and fundamental research. The driver laser is a Ti:Sa diode-pumped system , running at a maximum performance of 10 Hz, 30 J, and 30 fs. The possibilities to setup experiments using different focal lengths parabolas, as well as the possibility to counter-propagate a second laser beam intrinsically synchronized, are considered in the electron acceleration program. Here, we review the laser-driven electron acceleration experimental platform under implementation at ELI Beamlines, the HELL (High-energy Electrons by Laser Light) experimental platform .

High-quality GeV-scale electron bunches with the Resonant Multi-Pulse Ionization Injection

Recently a new injection scheme for Laser Wake Field Acceleration, employing a single 100-TW-class laser system, has been proposed. In the Resonant Multi-Pulse Ionization injection (ReMPI) a resonant train of pulses drives a large amplitude plasma wave that traps electrons extracted from the plasma by further ionization of a high-Z dopant (Argon in the present paper). While the pulses of the driver train have intensity below the threshold for the dopant’s ionization, the properly delayed and frequency doubled (or more) ionization pulse possesses an electric field large enough to extract electrons, though its normalized amplitude is well below unity. In this paper we will report on numerical simulations results aimed at the generation of GeV-scale bunches with normalized emittance and rms energy below 80nm×rad and 0.5%, respectively. Analytical consideration of the FEL performance for a 1.3 GeV bunch will be also reported.

Real-Time Tomography of Gas-Jets with a Wollaston Interferometer

A tomographic gas-density diagnostic using a Single-Beam Wollaston Interferometer able to characterize non-symmetric density distributions in gas jets is presented. A real-time tomographic algorithm is able to reconstruct three-dimensional density distributions. A Maximum Likelihood-Expectation Maximization algorithm, an iterative method with good convergence properties compared to simple back projection, is used. With the use of graphical processing units, real-time computation and high resolution are achieved. Two different gas jets are characterized: a kHz, piezo-driven jet for lower densities and a solenoid valve-based jet producing higher densities. While the first jet is used for free electron laser photon beam characterization, the second jet is used in laser wake field acceleration experiments. In this latter application, well-tailored and non-symmetric density distributions produced by a supersonic shock front generated by a razor blade inserted laterally to the gas flow, which breaks cylindrical symmetry, need to be characterized.

Spectral effects in the propagation of chirped laser pulses in uniform underdense plasma

Propagation of linearly chirped and linearly polarized, powerful laser pulses in uniform underdense plasma with their duration exceeding the plasma wave wavelength is examined via 3D fully relativistic particle-in-cell simulations. Spectral evolution of chirped laser pulses, determined by Raman scattering, essentially depends on the nonlinear electron evacuation from the first wake bucket via modulation of the known parameter ne(r)ω02γ. Conversely, the relative motion of different spectral components inside a pulse changes the evolution of the pulse length and, therefore, the ponderomotive forces at the pulse rear. Such longitudinal dynamics of the pulse length provoke a parametric resonance in the laser wake with continuous electron self-injection for any chirped pulses. However, the total charge of accelerated electrons and their energy distribution essentially depends on the chirp. Besides, negatively chirped laser pulses are shown to be useful for spatially resolved measurements of the plasma density profiles and for rough estimations of the laser pulse intensity evolution in underdense plasma.

The resonant multi-pulse ionization injection

The production of high-quality electron bunches in Laser Wake Field Acceleration relies on the possibility to inject ultra-low emittance bunches in the plasma wave. In this paper, we present a new bunch injection scheme in which electrons extracted by ionization are trapped by a large-amplitude plasma wave driven by a train of resonant ultrashort pulses. In the Resonant Multi-Pulse Ionization injection scheme, the main portion of a single ultrashort (e.g., Ti:Sa) laser system pulse is temporally shaped as a sequence of resonant sub-pulses, while a minor portion acts as an ionizing pulse. Simulations show that high-quality electron bunches with normalized emittance as low as 0.08 mm × mrad and 0.65% energy spread can be obtained with a single present-day 100TW-class Ti:Sa laser system.

High energy electron beams from a laser wakefield acceleration with a long gas jet

A long gas jet was used as a gas target for laser wake field acceleration to increase the energy and quality of the electron beam. When the plasma density was 7 × 1018 cm−3, quasi monoenergetic electron beams with a maximum energy of 152 MeV, a beam divergence 3 mrad, and a pointing stability 4 mrad were generated with a 5 mm long gas jet. The maximum energy was close to the theoretical limit predicted from the bubble model. This means that the length of the plasma was sufficiently long to accelerate the electron to the dephasing length after the electrons were self-injected by self-focusing. As the plasma density increased, the dephasing length decreased and the electron energy decreased. The continuous injection with higher density plasmas generated highly diverging beams. As the laser power increased, a number of electron beams with different propagation directions were generated. As shown by the measured shadowgram, the laser was divided into several filaments and each filament accelerated electron beam having different directions. The electron beam generated at this time decreased as the laser energy decreased due the division of the laser into different directions.

Single-Shot Measurement of Transient Phase Shift Induced by Laser Wake**Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No 61377102, and the Defense Industrial Technology Development Program under Grant No B1520133010.

Based on the frequency-to-time mapping relation of the linearly chirped pulse, the temporal phase shift induced by a laser-excited wake in a helium gas jet is measured using a chirped-pulse spectral interferometry with ~ 140 fs resolution over a temporal region of 1 ps in a single shot. In this measurement, the image of the wake is obtained with one-dimensional spatial resolution and temporal resolution limited only by the bandwidth and chirp of the pulse. The ‘bubbles’ feature of the wake structure, along with multiple wakes excited by the main lobe and the side lobe of a laser focal-spot, is captured simultaneously.

Dosimetric properties of plasma density effects on laser-accelerated VHEE beams using a sharp density-transition scheme

In this paper, the effects of the plasma density on laser-accelerated electron beams for radiation therapy with a sharp density transition are investigated. In the sharp density-transition scheme for electron injection, the crucial issue is finding the optimum density conditions under which electrons injected only during the first period of the laser wake wave are accelerated further. In this paper, we report particle-in-cell simulation results for the effects of both the scale length and the densitytransition ratio on the generation of a quasi-mono-energetic electron bunch. The effects of both the transverse parabolic channel and the plasma length on the electron-beam’s quality are investigated. Also, we show the experimental results for the feasibility of a sharp density-transition structure. The dosimetric properties of these very high-energy electron beams are calculated using Monte Carlo simulations.

Imaging Laser wake fields by Thomson Scattering a Co-Propagating Pulse**Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Foundation of Science and Technology on Plasma Physics Laboratory.

Thomson scattering imaging (TSI) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to observe the fine structure of the laser wake field. By Thomson scattering a co-propagating laser pulse, we obtain clear images indicating that the wake field is like an acaleph swimming behind the pump laser. The wavelength of the wake field observed at different electron densities agrees well with the theory. Since no mathematics transformation is involved, TSI could be potentially used as an online monitor for future ‘tabletop’ plasma accelerators.

Semi-analytical fluid study of the laser wake field excitation in the strong intensity regime

We present an analytical and numerical study of the interaction of a multi-petawatt, pancake-shaped laser pulse with an unmagnetized plasma. The study has been performed in the ultrarelativistic regime of electron jitter velocities, in which the plasma electrons are almost completely expelled from the pulse region. The calculations are applied to a laser wake field acceleration scheme with specifications that may be available in the next generation of Ti:Sa lasers and with the use of recently developed pulse compression techniques. A set of novel nonlinear equations is derived using a three-timescale description, with an intermediate timescale associated with the nonlinear phase of the electromagnetic wave and with the spatial bending of its wave front. They describe, on an equal footing, both the strong and the moderate laser intensity regimes, pertinent to the core and to the edges of the pulse.

Low-energy-spread laser wakefield acceleration using ionization injection with a tightly focused laser in a mismatched plasma channel

An improved ionization injection scheme for laser wakefield acceleration using a tightly focused laser pulse, with intensity near the ionization threshold to trigger the injection in a mismatched plasma channel, has been proposed and examined via 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. In this scheme, the key to achieving a very low energy spread is shortening the injection distance through the fast diffraction of the tightly focused laser. Furthermore, the oscillation of the laser envelope in the mismatched plasma channel can induce multiple low-energy-spread injections with an even distribution in both space and energy. The envelope oscillation can also significantly enhance the energy gain of the injected beams compared to the standard non-evolving wake scenario due to the rephasing between the electron beam and the laser wake. A theoretical model has been derived to precisely predict the injection distance, the ionization degree of injection atoms/ions, the electron yield as well as the ionized charge for given laser–plasma parameters, and such expressions can be directly utilized for optimizing the quality of the injected beam. Through 3D PIC simulations, we show that an injection distance as short as tens of microns can be achieved, which leads to ultrashort fs, few pC electron bunches with a narrow absolute energy spread around 2 MeV (rms). Simulations also show that the initial absolute energy spread remains nearly constant during the subsequent acceleration due to the very short bunch length, and this indicates that further acceleration of the electron bunches up to the GeV level may lead to an electron beam with an energy spread well below 0.5%. Such low-energy-spread electron beams may have potential applications for future coherent light sources driven by laser–plasma accelerators.

An analytic approach for density gradient injection in laser wake field acceleration

In laser wake field acceleration, it is relatively easy to achieve and control electron injection by adopting a plasma density gradient. This scheme of plasma density gradient injection has been studied in recent years both theoretically and experimentally, but thus far theoretical studies have been done mostly by particle-in-cell simulations. In this paper the density gradient injection and acceleration of electrons are studied with a newly developed analytic approach. The energy threshold for electron injection versus plasma density gradient scale length is given. It is shown that in the plasma density gradient region, the energy threshold of electron injection becomes lower at later times after the driving laser pusle or when the gradient becomes sharper. Evolution of plasma wave's phase velocity and motion of the background electrons in the plasma density gradient are worked out in the linear plasma wave regime, i.e. the normalized laser intensity is a0～1. The energy, the location, and the timing of the injected electrons are obtained. Separatrices of test electrons in the gradient region are obtained by Hamiltonian theory. The influence of injection timing in the density gradient region on the succeeding acceleration in the homogeneous plasma density region is also discussed. It is indicated that whether the injected electrons may be accelerated efficiently or not in the homogeneous region depends on both the energy of the electrons and the phase of the plasma wave at the gradient-to-homogeneous turning point. The analytic results are confirmed by particle-in-cell simulations.

Influence of a strong longitudinal magnetic field on laser wakefield acceleration

Optimization of the beam quality and electronic trapped charge in the cavity are key issues of laser wake field acceleration. The effect of an initially applied uniform magnetic field, parallel to the direction of propagation of the pump pulse, on the laser wakefield is explored. First, an analytic model for the laser wakefield is built up in the case when such an external magnetic field is applied. Then, simulations are performed with a 3D quasi-cylindrical particle in cell code in the blowout (or bubble) regime. Transverse currents are generated at the rear of the bubble which amplify the longitudinal magnetic field. For several plasma and laser parameters, the wake shape is altered and trapping can be reduced or cancelled by the magnetic field. When considering optical injection, and when two counterpropagating waves interact with a rather high plasma density, trapping is not affected by the magnetic field. In this range of plasma and laser parameters, it is shown that the longitudinal magnetic field can reduce or even prevent self-injection and enhance beam quality.

Photon acceleration in plasma wake wave

The photon acceleration effect in a laser wake field is investigated based on photon Hamiltonian dynamics. A test laser pulse is injected into a plasma wave at an incident angle θi, which could slow down the photon velocity along the propagating direction of the wake wave so as to increase the acceleration distance for the photons. The photon trapping condition is analyzed in detail, and the maximum frequency shift of the trapped photon is obtained. The acceleration gradient and dephasing length are emphatically studied. The compression of the test laser pulse is examined and used to interpret the acceleration process. The limit of finite transverse width of the wake wave on photon acceleration is also discussed.

Scaling electron acceleration in the bubble regime for upcoming lasers

Electron acceleration in the laser-plasma bubble appeared to be the most successful regime of laser wake field acceleration in the last decade. The laser technology became mature enough to generate short and relativistically intense pulses required to reach the bubble regime naturally delivering quasi-monoenergetic bunches of relativistic electrons. The upcoming laser technology projects are promising short pulses with many times more energy than the existing ones. The natural question is how will the bubble regime scale with the available laser energy. We present here a parametric study of laser-plasma acceleration in the bubble regime using full three dimensional particle-in-cell simulations and compare numerical results with the analytical scalings from the relativistic laser-plasma similarity theory.

Ultra-short electron bunches by Velocity Bunching as required for plasma wave accelerations

The generation of ultra-short bunches is nowadays a critical requirement for plasma wave accelerators, on which many laboratories world-wide are investigating or are close to starting with experimental activities. This requirement is true for both: external injection into “laser wake field accelerators”, where injected beams need lengths around or shorter than 10fs; and the “plasma wake field accelerators”, where the wake field intensity scales like the driver bunch charge over the square of the rms bunch length (Qb/σz2). This work presents beam dynamic simulations, which show how to use the Velocity Bunching (VB) technique to obtain ultra-short bunches. The VB technique is applied to small bunch charges (0.5–15pc) and it is driven with a proper control of the bunch density versus the bunch energy gain, which permits one to control the transverse beam emittance, the bunch length and the correlated longitudinal energy spread, in a peculiar manner. The compression optimizations by VB, shown in this work, are obtained using a layout very similar to SPARC's Linac one, which is a Linac designed to maximize VB performances.

Self-modulation of a long externally injected relativistic charged-particle beam in a laser wake field acceleration scheme. A preliminary quantum-like investigation

Recent investigations indicate that sufficiently long beams of charged particles, travelling in a plasma, experience the phenomenon of self-modulation. The self-modulation is driven by the plasma wake field excitation due to the beam itself, and it may become unstable under certain conditions. A preliminary theoretical investigation of the self-modulation of a relativistic charged-particle beam in overdense plasma in the presence of a preformed plasma wave is carried out, within the quantum-like description of charged particle beams provided by the Thermal Wave Model. A simple physical model for the self-modulation is put forward, described by a nonlinear Schrödinger equation coupled with the Poisson-like equation for the plasma wake potential (so-called Fedele–Shukla equations). The physical mechanism is based on the interplay of three concomitant effects, the radial thermal dispersion (associated with the emittance ε), the radial ponderomotive effects of a preexisting plasma wave (which provides the guidance for the beam), and the self-interaction of the plasma wake field generated by the beam itself.

Numerical investigation of electron self-injection in the nonlinear bubble regime

The process of electron self-injection in the nonlinear bubble wake generated by a short and intense laser pulse propagating in a uniform underdense plasma is studied by means of fully self-consistent particle-in-cell simulations and test-particle simulations. We consider a wake generated by a non-evolving laser driver traveling with a prescribed velocity, which then sets the structure and the velocity of the wake, so the injection dynamics is decoupled from driver evolution, but a realistic structure for the wakefield is retained. We show that a threshold for self-injection into a non-evolving bubble wake exists, and we characterize the dependence of the self-injection threshold on laser intensity, wake velocity, and plasma temperature for a range of parameters of interest for current and future laser-plasma accelerators.

Role of stochastic heating in wakefield acceleration monitored by optical injection

Abstract It is shown that stochastic heating can play an important role in Laser Wake Field Acceleration. When considering low density plasma interacting with a high intensity wave perturbed by a low intensity counterpropagating wave, stochastic heating can provide electrons with the right momentum for trapping in the wake field. The influence of stochastic acceleration on the trapping of electrons is compared to the one of cold injection by considering several polarizations of the colliding pulses. For some value of the plasma density and pulse duration, a transition from an injection due to stochastic acceleration to a cold injection dominated regime – regarding the trapped charge – has been observed from PIC code simulations. When the plasma density exceeds some value, stochastic heating becomes important and is necessary in some circumstances to get electrons trapped into the wakefield.