Observation of monoenergetic electrons from two-pulse ionization injection in quasilinear laser-wakefields.

ORAL

Abstract

The generation of low emittance electron beams from laser-driven wakefields is crucial for the development of compact X-ray sources. Here, we show new results for the injection and acceleration of quasi-monoenergetic electron beams in low amplitude wakefields, both experimentally and using simulations. This is achieved by using two laser pulses which decouples the wakefield generation from the electron trapping via ionization injection in addition with temporally limited constructive interference of the driven wakefields. By changing the polarization of the injector pulse, reducing the ionization volume, the electron spectra of the accelerated electron bunches are improved.

The possibility of using a two-pulse approach [1] to inject electrons allows reaching higher electron energies by using a linear drive pulse which is compatible with propagation in a pre-formed channel [2].



[1] N. Bourgeois, J. Cowley, and S. M. Hooker, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 155004 (2013).

[2] A. Picksley et al., Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 23, 081303 (2020).

*This work has been funded by UKRI-STFC Grant No's ST/P002048/1 and ST/V001655/1 along with UKRI-EPSRC Grants No.'s EP/R029148/1 and No. EP/L000237/1. The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the US Department of Energy's Office of Fusion Energy Sciences' LaserNetUS DOE DE-SCOO19186 and NSF MRI Grant No. 125492 for access to the HERCULES laser facility. We also thank all of the staff of the Central Laser Facility and the Scientific Computing Department at UKRI-STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. This work used the ARCHER2 UK National Supercomputing Serviceand UKRI-STFC's SCARF cluster.

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Publication: Observation of monoenergetic electrons from two-pulse ionization injection in quasilinear laser-wakefields, PRL, submitted

Presenters

  • Marko W von der Leyen

    • University of Oxford

Authors

  • Marko W von der Leyen

    • University of Oxford

  • J. Holloway

    • University of Oxford

  • Yong Ma

    • University of Michigan

  • Paul T Campbell

    • University of Michigan

  • Ramy Aboushelbaya

    • University of Oxford

  • Qian Qian

    • University of Michigan

  • Andre F Antoine

    • University of Michigan

  • Mario Balcazar

    • University of Michigan

  • Jason A Cardarelli

    • University of Michigan

  • Qingsong Feng

    • University of Oxford

  • Rebecca J Fitzgarrald

    • University of Michigan

  • Bixue Hou

    • University of Michigan

  • Galina Kalinchenko

    • University of Michigan

  • Joshua Latham

    • University of Michigan

  • Anatoly M Maksimchuk

    • University of Michigan

  • John Nees

    • University of Michigan

  • Iustin Ouatu

    • University of Oxford

  • Robert W Paddock

    • University of Oxford

  • Ben T Spiers

    • University of Oxford

  • Alexander G Thomas

    • University of Michigan

  • Robin Timmis

    • University of Oxford

  • Karl M Krushelnick

    • University of Michigan

  • Peter A Norreys

    • Rutherford Appleton Lab