Title :
Laser plasma acceleration experiment at the naval research laboratory
Author :
Kaganovich, D. ; Gordon, D. ; Ting, A.
Author_Institution :
LET Corp., Washington
Abstract :
A relativistically intense laser pulse is focused into a gas jet and quasi-monoenergetic electrons emitted at a 37 degree angle with respect to the laser axis are observed. The average energy of the electrons was between 1 and 2 MeV and the total accelerated charge was about 1 nC emitted into a 10 degree cone angle. The electron characteristics were sensitive to plasma density. The results are compared with three dimensional particle-in- cell simulations. This electron acceleration mechanism might be useful as a source of injection electrons in a laser wakefield accelerator.
Keywords :
electron accelerators; optical pulse shaping; particle beam focusing; particle beam injection; plasma density; plasma jets; wakefield accelerators; cone angle; electron acceleration mechanism; gas jet; injection electrons; laser plasma acceleration experiment; laser pulse; laser wakefield accelerator; naval research laboratory; plasma density; quasimonoenergetic electrons; Acceleration; Collimators; Electromagnets; Electrons; Gas lasers; Helium; Laboratories; Laser theory; Plasma accelerators; Plasma density;
Conference_Titel :
Particle Accelerator Conference, 2007. PAC. IEEE
Conference_Location :
Albuquerque, NM
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-0916-7
DOI :
10.1109/PAC.2007.4440719
