Proof-of-principle experiment for nanoparticle-assisted laser wakefield acceleration

Abstract

In the present work, we demonstrate for the first time a proof-of-principle experiment for nanoparticle-assisted laser wakefield acceleration. The nanoparticles, generated through laser ablation of aluminium, were introduced into the plasma and used to trigger the injection of electrons into the nonlinear plasma wake excited by a high power femtosecond laser. In this experiment, a significant enhancement of the electron beam energy, energy spread and divergence is obtained compared with the case when electrons are self-injected. The best quality electron bunches presented peak energy up to 338 MeV with a relative energy spread of 4.7% and vertical divergence of 5.9 mrad. This method can be further improved by adding an aerodynamic lens system, for instance, which would control the nanoparticle size, density, material and injection position thus allowing accurate control of the laser wakefield accelerator.

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• Experimental observation of nonlinear Thomson scattering
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Cited by in corpus (6)

• High-charge 10 GeV electron acceleration in a 10 cm nanoparticle-assisted hybrid wakefield accelerator
• Stable and high quality electron beams from staged laser and plasma wakefield accelerators
• Generation of ultrafast electron bunch trains via trapping into multiple periods of plasma wakefields
• Visualization of high-intensity laser-matter interactions in virtual reality and web browser
• Spatial profile of accelerated electrons from ponderomotive scattering in hydrogen cluster targets
• Performance envelope of laser wakefield accelerators