X-Ray Modeling in Laser-Wakefield Accelerators

A massively parallel postprocessing radiation code coupled with particle-in-cell simulations of laser-wakefield accelerators is used to model the X-ray radiation produced by the betatron oscillations of the electrons inside the plasma cavity formed behind the laser pulse. The radiation is characterized by the spatially resolved radiated energy and spectrum deposited in a “virtual detector.” The work here presented illustrates the main features of the radiation process and the potential of this tool for modeling future experiments aimed at producing bright low-divergence X-ray sources based in plasma accelerators.