Author: Lemos, N.
Paper Title Page
TUOBN1 Laser Wakefield Acceleration Beyond 1 GeV using Ionization Induced Injection 707
 
  • K.A. Marsh, C.E. Clayton, C. Joshi, N. Lemos, W. Lu, W.B. Mori, A.E. Pak
    UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA
  • F. Albert, T. Doeppner, C. Filip, D.H. Froula, S.H. Glenzer, B.B. Pollock, D. Price, J.E. Ralph
    LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
  • R.A. Fonseca, S.F. Martins
    Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon, Portugal
  • L.O. Silva
    IPFN, Lisbon, Portugal
 
  Funding: Supported by DOE Grants No. DE-AC52-07NA27344, DE-FG03-92ER40727, DE-FG02-92ER40727, DE-FC02-07ER41500, DE-FG52-09NA29552, NSF Grants No. PHY-0936266, PHY-0904039 and FCT, Por., No. SFRH/BD/35749/2007
A series of laser wakefield accelerator experiments leading to electron energy exceeding 1 GeV are described. Theoretical concepts and experimental methods developed while conducting experiments using the 10 TW Ti:Sapphire laser at UCLA were implemented and transferred successfully to the 100 TW Calisto Laser System at the Jupiter Laser Facility at LLNL. To reach electron energies greater than 1 GeV with current laser systems, it is necessary to inject and trap electrons into the wake and to guide the laser for more than 1 cm of plasma. Using the 10 TW laser, the physics of self-guiding and the limitations in regards to pump depletion over cm-scale plasmas were demonstrated. Furthermore, a novel injection mechanism was explored which allows injection by ionization at conditions necessary for generating electron energies greater than a GeV. The 10 TW results were followed by self-guiding at the 100 TW scale over cm plasma lengths. The energy of the self-injected electrons, at 3x1018 cm-3 plasma density, was limited by dephasing to 720 MeV. Implementation of ionization injection allowed extending the acceleration well beyond a centimeter and 1.4 GeV electrons were measured.
 
slides icon Slides TUOBN1 [2.488 MB]