Plasma-based laser pulse control techniques for laser wakefield accelerators

Author

Hubbard, R.F. ; Sprangle, P. ; Jones, T.G. ; Moore, Christopher I ; Ting, A. ; Hafizi, B. ; Kaganovich, D. ; Penano, J.R. ; Antonsen, T.M. ; Zigler, A. ; Mora, P.

Author_Institution

Div. of Plasma Phys., Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC

Volume

5

fYear

2001

fDate

2001

Firstpage

3990

Abstract

Possible plasma-based techniques for controlling or modifying the laser pulse in a laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) are examined, using laser propagation simulation codes. Laser pulse shortening or chopping prior to injection into a plasma guiding channel occurs when the peak laser power is slightly above the critical power for relativistic focusing. A channel-guided LWA may undergo further compression due to relativistic modulation effects. Multi-stage capillary discharges allow the channel density to be extended and tapered for optimal acceleration in future LWFA experiments

Keywords

optical focusing; plasma light propagation; wakefield accelerators; laser pulse; laser wakefield accelerators; multi-stage capillary discharges; plasma-based laser pulse control techniques; relativistic modulation; Acceleration; Laser theory; Optical control; Optical propagation; Optical pulses; Plasma accelerators; Plasma density; Plasma simulation; Power lasers; Pulse modulation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Particle Accelerator Conference, 2001. PAC 2001. Proceedings of the 2001

Conference_Location

Chicago, IL

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7191-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PAC.2001.988321

Filename

988321