Publications (49)
Quasi-phasematching of harmonic generation via multimode beating in waveguides
B. Dromey, M. Zepf, M. Landreman +1
A new scheme for quasi-phasematching high harmonic generation (HHG) in gases is proposed. In this, the rapid variation of the axial intensity resulting from excitation of more than…
Characterisation of deuterium spectra from laser driven multi-species sources by employing differentially filtered image plate detectors in Thomson spectrometers
A. Alejo, S. Kar, H. Ahmed +23
A novel method for characterising the full spectrum of deuteron ions emitted by laser driven multi-species ion sources is discussed. The procedure is based on using differential fi…
Femtosecond-scale Synchronisation of Ultra-Intense Focused Laser Beams
D. J. Corvan, W. Schumaker, J. Cole +10
Synchronising ultra-short (~fs) and focussed laser pulses is a particularly difficult task, as this timescale lies orders of magnitude below the typical range of fast electronic de…
Experimental evidence of radiation reaction in the collision of a high-intensity laser pulse with a laser-wakefield accelerated electron beam
J. M. Cole, K. T. Behm, T. G. Blackburn +21
The dynamics of energetic particles in strong electromagnetic fields can be heavily influenced by the energy loss arising from the emission of radiation during acceleration, known…
Ultra high precision refractive index measurement of Si at -ray energies up to 2 MeV
M. M. Günther, M. Jentschel, A. J. Pollitt +2
The refractive index of silicon at -ray energies from 181 - 1959 keV was investigated using the GAMS6 double crystal spectrometer and found to follow the predictions of the cla…
Ultra-high brilliance multi-MeV -ray beam from non-linear Thomson scattering
G. Sarri, D. J. Corvan, W. Schumaker +13
We report on the generation of a narrow divergence ( mrad), multi-MeV ( MeV) and ultra-high brilliance ( photons s…
Dominance of Radiation Pressure in Ion Acceleration with Linearly Polarized Pulses at Intensities of
B. Qiao, S. Kar, M. Geissler +3
A novel regime is proposed where, employing linearly polarized laser pulses at intensities as two order of magnitude lower than earlier predicted [T. Esi…
Attosecond Control of Relativistic Electron Bunches using Two-Colour Fields
M. Yeung, S. Rykovanov, J. Bierbach +10
Energy coupling during relativistically intense laser-matter interactions is encoded in the attosecond motion of strongly driven electrons at the pre-formed plasma-vacuum boundary.…
Radiation Pressure Acceleration of Thin Foils with Circularly Polarized Laser Pulses
A. P. L. Robinson, M. Zepf, S. Kar +2
A new regime is described for Radiation Pressure Acceleration of a thin foil by an intense laser beam of above 10^20 W/cm^2. Highly monoenergetic proton beams extending to GeV ener…
A laser-plasma platform for photon-photon physics
B. Kettle, D. Hollatz, E. Gerstmayr +35
We describe a laser-plasma platform for photon-photon collision experiments to measure fundamental quantum electrodynamic processes such as the linear Breit-Wheeler process with re…
Letter of Intent for the LUXE Experiment
H. Abramowicz, M. Altarelli, R. AÃmann +34
This Letter of Intent describes LUXE (Laser Und XFEL Experiment), an experiment that aims to use the high-quality and high-energy electron beam of the European XFEL and a powerful…
On Measuring Stimulated Photon-photon Scattering using Multiple Ultraintense Lasers
Hans G. Rinderknecht, E. Dill, A. J. MacLeod +8
Stimulated photon-photon scattering is a predicted consequence of quantum electrodynamics that has yet to be measured directly. Measuring the cross-section for stimulated photon-ph…
Giant isolated attosecond pulses from two-color laser plasma interactions
Y. X. Zhang, S. Rykovanov, Mingyuan Shi +4
A new regime in the interaction of a two-colour (,) laser with a nanometre-scale foil is identified, resulting in the emission of extremely intense, isolated attosecond pu…
Real-time observation of frustrated ultrafast recovery from ionisation in nanostructured SiO2 using laser driven accelerators
J. P. Kennedy, M. Coughlan, C. R. J. Fitzpatrick +14
Ionising radiation interactions in matter can trigger a cascade of processes that underpin long-lived damage in the medium. To date, however, a lack of suitable methodologies has p…
Dynamic Control of Laser Produced Proton Beams
S. Kar, K. Markey, P. T. Simpson +16
The emission characteristics of intense laser driven protons are controlled using ultra-strong (of the order of 10^9 V/m) electrostatic fields varying on a few ps timescale. The fi…
Letter of Intent: Towards a Vacuum Birefringence Experiment at the Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields
N. Ahmadiniaz, C. Bähtz, A. Benediktovitch +49
Quantum field theory predicts a nonlinear response of the vacuum to strong electromagnetic fields of macroscopic extent. This fundamental tenet has remained experimentally challeng…
Input to the ESPPU: The LUXE Experiment
H. Abramowicz, M. Almanza Soto, M. Altarelli +130
This document presents an overview of LUXE (Laser Und XFEL Experiment), an experiment that will combine the high-quality and high-energy electron beam of the European XFEL with a h…
Enhanced laser-driven ion acceleration by superponderomotive electrons generated from near-critical-density plasma
J. H. Bin, M. Yeung, Z. Gong +10
We report on the experimental studies of laser driven ion acceleration from double-layer target where a near-critical density target with a few-micron thickness is coated in front…
Technical Design Report for the LUXE Experiment
H. Abramowicz, M. Almanza Soto, M. Altarelli +131
This Technical Design Report presents a detailed description of all aspects of the LUXE (Laser Und XFEL Experiment), an experiment that will combine the high-quality and high-energ…
Relativistic Frequency Synthesis of Light Fields
C. Rödel, E. Eckner, J. Bierbach +12
Waveform shaping and frequency synthesis based on waveform modulation is ubiquitous in electronics, telecommunication technology, and optics. For optical waveforms, the carrier fre…
All-optical source size and emittance measurements of laser-accelerated electron beams
F. C. Salgado, A. Kozan, D. Seipt +8
Novel schemes for generating ultra-low emittance electron beams have been developed in past years and promise compact particle sources with excellent beam quality suitable for futu…
Calibration of Time Of Flight Detectors Using Laser-driven Neutron Source
S. R. Mirfayzi, S. Kar, H. Ahmed +17
Calibration of three scintillators (EJ232Q, BC422Q and EJ410) in a time-of-flight (TOF) arrangement using a laser drive-neutron source is presented. The three plastic scintillator…
Plasma surface dynamics and smoothing in the relativistic few-cycle regime
S. G. Rykovanov, H. Ruhl, J. Meyer-ter-Vehn +4
In laser-plasma interactions it is widely accepted that a non-uniform interaction surface will invariably seed hydrodynamic instabilities and a growth in the amplitude of the initi…
Single 100-terawatt attosecond X-ray light pulse generation
X. R. Xu, B. Qiao, Y. X. Zhang +7
The birth of attosecond light sources is expected to inspire a breakthrough in ultrafast optics, which may extend human real-time measurement and control techniques into atomic-sca…
PIC simulation study of the interaction between a relativistically moving leptonic micro-cloud and ambient electrons
M. E. Dieckmann, G. Sarri, S. Markoff +2
The jets of compact accreting objects are composed of electrons and a mixture of positrons and ions. These outflows impinge on the interstellar or intergalactic medium and both pla…
Dispersive refraction of different light-to-heavy materials at MeV -ray energies
M. M. Günther, A. V. Volotka, M. Jentschel +4
The dispersive behavior of materials with atomic charge numbers varing from (beryllium, Be) to (lead, Pb) was investigated experimentally and theoretically at …
Diagnosing the impact of relativistically intense prepulse on few-picosecond timeframes for short scale length laser-matter interactions
H. M. Huddleston, M. Yeung, C. R. J. Fitzpatrick +8
With the rapid proliferation of multi-petawatt (MPW) lasers globally, a new era of high-energy density science promises to emerge within the next decade. However, precise control o…
Laser acceleration of highly energetic carbon ions using a double-layer target composed of slightly underdense plasma and ultrathin foil
W. J. Ma, I Jong Kim, J. Q. Yu +18
We report the experimental generation of highly energetic carbon ions up to 48 MeV per nucleon by shooting double-layer targets composed of well-controlled slightly underdense plas…
Impact of laser focussing and radiation reaction on particle spectra from nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair production in the nonperturbative regime
A. Eckey, A. Golub, F. C. Salgado +4
Near-future experiments intend to detect strong-field Breit-Wheeler pair creation from the collision between bremsstrahlung bursts containing GeV- quanta and high-intensity las…
Dynamics of Nanometer-Scale Foil Targets Irradiated with Relativistically Intense Laser Pulses
R. Hörlein, S. Steinke, A. Henig +15
In this letter we report on an experimental study of high harmonic radiation generated in nanometer-scale foil targets irradiated under normal incidence. The experiments constitute…
Ion acceleration in multispecies targets driven by intense laser radiation pressure
S. Kar, K. F. Kakolee, B. Qiao +15
The acceleration of ions from ultra-thin foils has been investigated using 250 TW, sub-ps laser pulses, focused on target at intensities up to $3\times10^{20} \Wcm2$. The ion spect…
Temporal structure of attosecond pulses from laser-driven coherent synchrotron emission
S. Cousens, B. Reville, B. Dromey +1
The microscopic dynamics of laser-driven coherent synchrotron emission transmitted through thin foils are investigated using particle-in-cell simulations. For normal incidence inte…
Single Particle Detection System for Strong-Field QED Experiments
F. C. Salgado, N. Cavanagh, M. Tamburini +23
Measuring signatures of strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SF-QED) processes in an intense laser field is an experimental challenge: it requires detectors to be highly sensitive…
Optimisation of the pointing stability of laser-wakefield accelerated electron beams
R. J. Garland, K. Poder, J. Cole +13
Laser-wakefield acceleration is a promising technique for the next generation of ultra-compact, high-energy particle accelerators. However, for a meaningful use of laser-driven par…
A table-top laser-based source of femtosecond, collimated, ultra-relativistic positron beams
G. Sarri, W. Schumaker, A. Di Piazza +13
The generation of ultra-relativistic positron beams with short duration ( fs), small divergence ( mrad), and high density ($n_{e^+} \simeq 10^{…
Buffered spectrally-peaked proton beams in the relativistic-transparency regime
N. P. Dover, M. J. V. Streeter, C. A. J. Palmer +23
Spectrally-peaked proton beams ( MeV, MeV) have been observed from the interaction of an intense laser ( Wcm) with ultrathin CH fo…
Micron-scale Fast Electron Filamentation and Recirculation determined from Rear Side Optical Emission in High Intensity Laser-Solid Interactions
C. Bellei, S. R. Nagel, S. Kar +24
The transport of relativistic electrons generated in the interaction of petawatt class lasers with solid targets has been studied through measurements of the optical emission from…
Relativistic plasma optics enabled by near-critical density nanostructured material
J. H. Bin, W. J. Ma, H. Y. Wang +11
The nonlinear optical properties of a plasma due to the relativistic electron motion in an intense laser field are of fundamental importance for current research and the generation…
Enhanced harmonic generation in relativistic laser plasma interaction
C. Rödel, E. Eckner, J. Bierbach +12
We report the enhancement of individual harmonics generated at a relativistic ultra-steep plasma vacuum interface. Simulations show the harmonic emission to be due to the coupled a…
Ultrafast opacity in borosilicate glass induced by picosecond bursts of laser-driven ions
B. Dromey, L. Stella, D. Adams +22
Direct investigation of ion-induced dynamics in matter on picosecond (ps, 10-12 s) timescales has been precluded to date by the relatively long nanosecond (ns, 10-9 s) scale ion pu…
Limitations of emittance and source size measurement of laser-accelerated electron beams using the pepper-pot mask method
F. C. Salgado, A. Kozan, D. Seipt +8
The pepper-pot method is a widely used technique, originally proposed for measuring the emittance of space-charge-dominated electron beams from radio-frequency photoinjectors. With…
Bright subcycle XUV pulse from a single dense relativistic electron sheet
W. J. Ma, J. H. Bin, H. Y. Wang +11
Relativistic electrons are prodigious sources of photons. Beyond classical accelerators, ultra-intense laser interactions are of particular interest as they allow the coherent moti…
Generation of a neutral, high-density electron-positron plasma in the laboratory
G. Sarri, K. Poder, J. Cole +17
We report on the laser-driven generation of purely neutral, relativistic electron-positron pair plasmas. The overall charge neutrality, high average Lorentz factor ($γ_{e/p} \appr…
Polarization dependent beam pointing jitter in laser wake field accelerators
A. Seidel, B. Lei, C. Zepter +4
We present experimental results, which show a laser polarization dependent contribution to electron beam pointing jitter in laser wakefield accelerators (LWFA). We develop a theore…
Comprehensive Numerical Modelling of a Low-Gain Optical Parametric Amplifier as a Front-End Contrast Enhancement Unit
A. B. Sharba, G. Nersisyan, M. Zepf +2
We present a comprehensive model for predicting the full performance of a second harmonic generationoptical parametric amplification system that aims at enhancing the temporal cont…
Design of a Compact Spectrometer for High-Flux MeV Gamma-Ray Beams
D. J. Corvan, G. Sarri, M. Zepf
A novel design for a compact gamma-ray spectrometer is presented. The proposed system allows for spectroscopy of high-flux multi-MeV gamma-ray beams with MeV energy resolution in a…
Bounding elastic photon-photon scattering at MeV using a laser-plasma platform
R. Watt, B. Kettle, E. Gerstmayr +36
We report on a direct search for elastic photon-photon scattering using x-ray and photons from a laser-plasma based experiment. A gamma photon beam produced by a laser wakefie…
Bright quasi-phasematched soft x-ray harmonic radiation from Argon ions
M. Zepf, B. Dromey, M. Landreman +2
Selective enhancement (>10^3) of harmonics extending to the water window (~4nm) generated in an argon gas filled straight bore capillary waveguide is demonstrated. This enhancement…
Experimental signatures of the quantum nature of radiation reaction in the field of an ultra-intense laser
K. Poder, M. Tamburini, G. Sarri +21
The description of the dynamics of an electron in an external electromagnetic field of arbitrary intensity is one of the most fundamental outstanding problems in electrodynamics. R…