A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   X   Y   Z    

Gonsalves, A.J.

Paper Title Page
TPAE019 Experimental Progress on a 1 GeV Laser Accelerator at LBNL
 
  • W. Leemans, E. Esarey, C.G.R. Geddes, P. Michel, B. Nagler, K. Nakamura, C.B. Schroeder, C. Toth, J. Van Tilborg
    LBNL, Berkeley, California
  • T.E. Cowan, C. Filip, E. Michel
    University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada
  • A.J. Gonsalves, S.M. Hooker, D. J. Spence
    OXFORDphysics, Oxford, Oxon
 
  Funding: This work supported by US DoE, DE-AC03-76SF0098 and in part by the Research Councils UK, Basic Technology Programme (GR/R88090) and DOE/NNSA under UNR grant DE-FC52-01NV14050.

Experimental progress towards the realization of a 1 GeV laser-driven plasma-based accelerator at the L’OASIS facility of LBNL will be discussed. The design of the 1 GeV accelerator module consists of two components: (1) an all-optical electron injector and (2) a plasma channel for laser guiding and electron acceleration to high energy via the laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) mechanism. Experimental results on the injector development include the demonstration of laser guiding at relativistic intensities in preformed plasmas and production of quasi-monochromatic electron beams with energy around 100 MeV. Recently guiding experiments using the 100 TW-class laser upgrade of the L’OASIS facility have been started with capillary discharges. The capillary system provides multi-cm scale plasma channels in hydrogen gas at densities on the order of 1018 cm-3. Such densities are required to have sufficiently high phase velocity of the plasma wave to result in GeV electron beams.

 
TPAE021 Laser Guiding of a 100 TW Laser Beam in a Capillary Discharge Waveguide
 
  • B. Nagler, E. Esarey, C. Filip, C.G.R. Geddes, W. Leemans, C. Toth
    LBNL, Berkeley, California
  • T.E. Cowan
    University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada
  • A.J. Gonsalves, S.M. Hooker, D. J. Spence
    OXFORDphysics, Oxford, Oxon
 
  Funding: This work is sponsored by the Department of Energy - High Energy Physics under contract DE-AC03 76SF0098.

Experiments are underway at LBNL on guiding high peak power (up to 100 TW), ultra-short (<50 fs) laser pulses using a preformed plasma channel created by an electrical discharge in a capillary. The laser beam is produced by the multi-beam l'OASIS Ti:sapphire laser system and is focused onto the entrance of the capillary using a 2 meter focal length off-axis parabola. The capillary has been developed at Oxford University and creates a fully ionized plasma channel with a radial density profile that is suitable for guiding over a length ranging from 30 to 70 mm. The laser beam is monitored using a CCD camera based mode profile diagnostic, an optical spectrometer and a pulse length diagnostic. Experimental results will be presented on the plasma channel characteristics and on laser guiding and its dependenceo n laser and channel parameters.