GeV electrons due to a transition from laser wakefield acceleration to plasma wakefield acceleration

Abstract

We show through experiments that a transition from laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) regime to a plasma wakefield acceleration (PWFA) regime can drive electrons up to energies close to the GeV level. Initially, the acceleration mechanism is dominated by the bubble created by the laser in the nonlinear regime of LWFA, leading to an injection of a large number of electrons. After propagation beyond the depletion length, leading to a depletion of the laser pulse, whose transverse ponderomotive force is not able to sustain the bubble anymore, the high energy dense bunch of electrons propagating inside bubble will drive its own wakefield by a PWFA regime. This wakefield will be able to trap and accelerate a population of electrons up to the GeV level during this second stage. Three dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations support this analysis, and confirm the scenario.

References in corpus (5)

• Generating multi-GeV electron bunches using single stage laser wakefield acceleration in a 3D nonlinear regime
• Beam loading in the nonlinear regime of plasma-based acceleration
• The Effect of Laser Focusing Conditions on Propagation and Monoenergetic Electron Production in Laser Wakefield Accelerators
• Pulsed Mid-infrared Radiation from Spectral Broadening in Laser Wakefield Simulations
• Quasi-monoenergetic electron beams production in a sharp density transition

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Physics of nanocoulomb-class electron beams in laser-plasma wakefields
• Demonstration of a compact plasma accelerator powered by laser-accelerated electron beams
• High-brilliance betatron gamma-ray source powered by laser-accelerated electrons
• Direct observation of plasma waves and dynamics induced by laser-accelerated electron beams
• Hybrid LWFA $|$ PWFA Staging as a Beam Energy and Brightness Transformer : Conceptual Design and Simulations
• High Flux Femtosecond X-ray Emission from the Electron-Hose Instability in Laser Wakefield Accelerators
• Evolution of equilibrium particle beams under external wakefields