| Paper |
Title |
Page |
| WEPP138 |
Experimental Demonstration of Ultrashort μJ-Class Pulses in the Terahertz Regime from a Laser Wakefield Accelerator
|
2818 |
| |
- G. R.D. Plateau, C. G.R. Geddes, N. H. Matlis, C. B. Schroeder, C. Toth, J. van Tilborg
LBNL, Berkeley, California
- O. Albert
LOA, Palaiseau
- E. Esarey, W. Leemans
University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada
|
|
| |
Ultrashort terahertz pulses with energies in the μJ range can be generated with laser wakefield accelerators (LWFA), which are novel, compact accelerators that produce ultrashort electron bunches with energies up to 1 GeV* and energy spreads of a few-percent. Laser pulses interacting with a plasma create accelerated electrons which upon exiting the plasma emit terahertz pulses via transition radiation. Because they are only tens of femtoseconds long, electron bunches can radiate coherently (CTR) in a wide bandwidth (~ 1 - 10 THz) yielding terahertz pulses of high intensity**,***. In addition to providing a non-invasive bunch-length diagnostic**** and thus feedback for the LWFA, these high peak power THz pulses are suitable for high field (MV/cm) pump-probe experiments. Here we present energy-based measurements using a Golay cell and a single-shot electro-optic technique which were used to characterize the full waveform of these μJ-class THz pulses, including phase and amplitude information.
*W. P. Leemans et al. N. P. 2/696 (2006).
**W. P. Leemans et al. P. R.L. 91/074802 (2003).
***C. B. Schroeder et al. P. R.E 69/016501 (2004).
****J. van Tilborg et al. P. R.L. 96/014801 (2006).
|
|
| FRXCGM01 |
High Quality GeV Electron Beams from Plasma-Laser Accelerators
|
3733 |
| |
- W. Leemans
LBNL, Berkeley, California
|
|
| |
Accelerators are essential tools of discovery and have many practical uses. At the forefront of accelerator technology are the machines that deliver beams for particle physics, for synchrotron and free electron based radiation sources. The technology that drives these accelerators is extremely sophisticated but is limited by the maximum sustainable accelerating field. This impacts the size and cost of the device. More than two decades ago, lasers were proposed as power source for driving novel accelerators based on plasmas as the accelerating medium. An overview will be presented of what these devices can produce to date, including the 2004 demonstration of high quality electron beams* and the 2006 demonstration of GeV class beams from a 3 cm long accelerating structure**. We then discuss the key challenges for broad applicability of the technology and our goal of making a laser accelerator driven a VUV/soft x-ray free electron laser.
* C. G.R. Geddes et al., Nature 431, 538-541 (2004); S. P.D. Mangles et al., ibidem, p.535-538; J. Faure et al., ibidem, p. 541-544.
** W. P. Leemans et al., Nature Physics 2, 696-699 (2006).
|
|
|
Slides
|
|