Laser Wakefield Acceleration of Particle in a Plasma

Research activities on laser plasma accelerators are paved by many significant breakthroughs. This review article provides an opportunity to show the incredible evolution of this field of research which has, in record time, allowed physicists to produce high quality electron beams at the GeV level using compact laser systems. I will show the scientific path that led us to explore different injection schemes and to produce stable, high peak current and high quality electron be...

We study the energetics of wake excitation during the laser-plasma interaction in application to laser wakefield accelerators. We find that both the wake amplitude and the accelerating efficiency (transformer ratio) can be maximized by properly shaping the longitudinal profile of the driving laser pulse. The corresponding family of laser pulse shapes is derived in the nonlinear regime of laser-plasma interaction. Such shapes provide theoretical upper limit on the magnitude of...

We demonstrate experimentally the resonant excitation of plasma waves by trains of laser pulses. We also take an important first step to achieving an energy recovery plasma accelerator by showing that unused wakefield energy can be removed by an out-of-resonance trailing laser pulse. The measured laser wakefields are found to be in excellent agreement with analytical and numerical models of wakefield excitation in the linear regime. Our results indicate a promising direction ...

Laser-driven plasma accelerators provide acceleration gradients three orders of magnitude greater than conventional machines, offering the potential to shrink the length of accelerators by the same factor. To date, laser-acceleration of electron beams to particle energies comparable to those offered by synchrotron light sources has been demonstrated with plasma acceleration stages only a few centimetres long. This article describes the principles of operation of laser-driven ...

A new scheme for injection and acceleration of electrons in wakefield accelerators is suggested based on the co-action of a laser pulse and an electron beam. This synergy leads to stronger wakefield generation and higher energy gain in the bubble regime. The strong deformation of the whole bubble leads to electron self-injection at lower laser powers and lower plasma densities. To predict the practical ranges of electron beam and laser pulse parameters an interpretive model i...

In the frame of laser-driven wakefield acceleration, the main characteristics oflaser propagation and plasma wave excitation are described, with an emphasis onthe role of propagation distance for electron acceleration. To optimizeinteraction length and maximize energy gain, operation at low plasma density isthe most promising regime for achieving ultra-relativistic energies. Among thepossible methods of extending propagation length at low plasma density, laserguiding by grazi...

Propagation distances of intense laser pulses and high-charge electron beams through the plasma are, respectively, limited by diffraction and self-deceleration. This imposes severe constraints on the performance of the two major advanced accelerator concepts: laser and plasma wakefield accelerators. Using numerical simulations, we demonstrate that when the two beams co-propagate in the plasma, they can interact synergistically and extend each other's travel distances. The key...

Focusing petawatt-level laser beams to a variety of spot sizes for different applications is expensive in cost, labor and space. In this paper, we propose a plasma lens to flexibly resize the laser beam by utilizing the laser self-focusing effect. Using a fixed conventional focusing system to focus the laser a short distance in front of the plasma, we can adjust the effective laser beam waist within a certain range, as if a variety of focusing systems were used with the plasm...

This is brief review of acceleration of electrons in plasma wakefields driven by either intense laser pulses or particle beams following lectures at the 2019 CERN Accelerator School on plasma accelerators, held at Sesimbra, Portugal. The commonalities between drivers and their strength parameters and operating parameter regimes for current experiments in laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) and beam driven plasma wakefield acceleration (PWFA) are summarized. Energy limitations...

White paper to the Proceedings of the U.S. Particle Physics Community Planning Exercise (Snowmass 2021): Linear colliders based on laser-plasma accelerators