Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T01:58:56.576Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Observation of anomalous side-scattering in laser wakefield accelerators

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2018

K. Krushelnick Open the ORCID record for K. Krushelnick [Opens in a new window] ,
A. E. Dangor ,
M. Kaluza ,
S. P. D. Mangles ,
C. D. Murphy ,
Z. Najmudin  and
A. G. R. Thomas
K. Krushelnick*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109, USA
A. E. Dangor
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK
M. Kaluza
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany
S. P. D. Mangles
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK
C. D. Murphy
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK Department of Physics, University of York, York, UK
Z. Najmudin
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK
A. G. R. Thomas
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109, USA
*
Author for correspondence: K. Krushelnick, Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK, E-mail: kmkr@umich.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

High-intensity femtosecond laser–plasma interaction experiments were performed to investigate laser–plasma wakefield acceleration in the “bubble” regime. Using a 15 TW laser pulse, the emission of side-scattered radiation was spectrally and spatially resolved and was consequently used to diagnose the evolution of the laser pulse during the acceleration process. Side-scattered emission was observed immediately before wavebreaking at a frequency of ωL + 1.7ωp (where ωL is the laser frequency and ωp is the background plasma frequency). This emission may result from scattering of laser light by large amplitude plasma oscillations generated in the shell of the wakefield “bubble” and which occurs immediately prior to the wavebreaking/injection process. The observed variation of the frequency of scattered light with electron density agrees with theoretical estimates.

Keywords

Electron beamslaser acceleratorsplasmas
Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 391 - 395
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Faure, J, Gilnec, Y, Pukhov, A, Kiselev, S, Gordienko, S, Lefebvre, E, Rousseau, J-P, Burgy, F and Malka, V (2004) A laser-plasma accelerator producing monoenergetic electron beams. Nature 431, 541.Google Scholar
Faure, J, Rechatin, C, Norlin, A, Lifschitz, A, Glinec, Y and Malka, V (2006) Controlled injection and acceleration of electrons in plasma wakefields by colliding laser pulses. Nature 444, 737.Google Scholar
Geddes, CGR, Toth, C, van Tilborg, J, Esarey, E, Schroeder, CB, Bruhwiler, D, Nieter, C, Cary, J and Leemans, WP (2004) High-quality electron beams from a laser wakefield accelerator using plasma-channel guiding. Nature 431, 538.Google Scholar
Geddes, CGR, Nakamura, K, Plateau, GR, Toth, C, Cormier-Michel, E, Esarey, E, Schroeder, CB, Cary, JR and Leemans, WP (2008) Plasma-density-gradient injection of low absolute-momentum-spread electron bunches. Physical Review Letters 100, 215004.Google Scholar
Hafz, NAM, Jeong, TM, Choi, IW, Lee, SK, Pae, KH, Kulagin, VV, Sung, JH, Yu, TJ, Hong, KH, Hosokai, T, Cary, JR, Ko, DK and Lee, J (2008) Stable generation of GeV-class electron beams from self-guided laser-plasma channels. Nature Photonics 2, 571.Google Scholar
Huntington, CM, Thomas, AGR, McGuffey, C, Matsuoka, T, Chvykov, V, Kalintchenko, G, Kneip, S, Najmudin, Z, Palmer, C, Yanovsky, V, Maksimchuk, A, Drake, RP, Katsouleas, T and Krushelnick, K (2011) Current filamentation instability in laser wakefield accelerators. Physical Review Letters 106, 105001.Google Scholar
Kalmykov, S, Yi, SA, Khudik, V and Shvets, G (2009) Electron self-injection and trapping into an evolving plasma bubble. Physical Review Letters 103, 135004.Google Scholar
Kneip, S, Nagel, SR, Martins, SF, Mangles, SPD, Bellei, C, Chekhlov, O, Clarke, RJ, Delerue, N, Divall, EJ, Doucas, G, Ertel, K, Fiuza, F, Fonseca, R, Foster, P, Hawkes, SJ, Hooker, CJ, Krushelnick, K, Mori, WB, Palmer, CAJ, Ta Phuoc, K, Rajeev, PP, Schreiber, J, Streeter, MJV, Urner, D, Vieira, J, Silva, LO and Najmudin, Z (2009) Near-GeV acceleration of electrons by a nonlinear plasma wave driven by a self-guided laser pulse. Physical Review Letters 103, 035002.Google Scholar
Krushelnick, K, Ting, A, Burris, HR, Fisher, A, Manka, C and Esarey, E (1995) Second harmonic generation of stimulated raman scattered light in underdense plasmas. Physical Review Letters 75, 3681.Google Scholar
Leemans, WP, Nagler, B, Gonsalves, AJ, Toth, C, Nakamura, K, Geddes, CGR, Esarey, E, Schroeder, CB and Hooker, SM (2006) GeV electron beams from a centimetre-scale accelerator. Nature Physics 2, 696.Google Scholar
Mangles, SPD, Murphy, CD, Najmudin, Z, Thomas, AGR, Collier, JL, Dangor, AE, Foster, PS, Divall, EJ, Gallacher, JG, Hooker, CJ, Jaroszynski, DA, Langley, AJ, Mori, WB, Norreys, PA, Tsung, FS, Viskup, R, Walton, BR and Krushelnick, K (2004) Monoenergetic beams of relativistic electrons from intense laser-plasma interactions. Nature 431, 535.Google Scholar
Mangles, SPD, Walton, BR, Najmudin, Z, Dangor, AE, Krushelnick, K, Malka, V, Manclossi, M, Lopes, N, Carias, C, Mendes, G and Dorchies, F (2006) Table-top laser-plasma acceleration as an electron radiography source. Laser and Particle Beams 24, 185.Google Scholar
Matsuoka, T, McGuffey, C, Horovitz, Y, Dollar, F, Bulanov, SS, Chvykov, V, Cummings, PG, Kalintchenko, G, Rousseau, P, Yanovsky, V, Thomas, AGR, Maksimchuk, A and Krushelnick, K (2010) Stimulated Raman side scattering in laser wakefield acceleration. Physical Review Letters 105, 134801.Google Scholar
McGuffey, C, Thomas, AGR, Schumaker, W, Matsuoka, T, Chvykov, V, Dollar, FJ, Kalintchenko, G, Yanovsky, V, Maksimchuk, A, Krushelnick, K, Bychenkov, VY, Glazyrin, IV and Karpeev, AV (2010) Ionization induced trapping in a laser wakefield accelerator. Physical Review Letters 104, 025004.Google Scholar
Thomas, AGR, Murphy, CD, Mangles, SPD, Najmudin, Z, Dangor, AE, Kaluza, M and Krushelnick, K (2007) Measurements of wave-breaking radiation from a laser-wakefield accelerator. Physical Review Letters 98, 054802.Google Scholar