Electron beam pointing stability of a laser wakefield accelerator

R. C. Issac; G. Vieux; G. H Welsh; R. Shanks; E. Brunetti; S. Cipiccia; M. P. Anania; X. Yang; S. M. Wiggins; M. R. Islam; B. Ersfeld; J. Farmer; G. Raj; S. Chen; D. Clark; T. McCanny; D. A. Jaroszynski

doi:10.1117/12.822165

7 May 2009 Electron beam pointing stability of a laser wakefield accelerator

R. C. Issac, G. Vieux, G. H Welsh, R. Shanks, E. Brunetti, S. Cipiccia, M. P. Anania, X. Yang, S. M. Wiggins, M. R. Islam, B. Ersfeld, J. Farmer, G. Raj, S. Chen, D. Clark, T. McCanny, D. A. Jaroszynski

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7359, Harnessing Relativistic Plasma Waves as Novel Radiation Sources from Terahertz to X-Rays and Beyond; 735915 (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.822165
Event: SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics, 2009, Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract

Electron acceleration using plasma waves driven by ultra-short relativistic intensity laser pulses has undoubtedly excellent potential for driving a compact light source. However, for a wakefield accelerator to become a useful and reliable compact accelerator the beam properties need to meet a minimum standard. To demonstrate the feasibility of a wakefield based radiation source we have reliably produced electron beams with energies of 82±5 MeV, with 1±0.2% energy spread and 3 mrad r.m.s. divergence using a 0.9 J, 35 fs 800 nm laser. Reproducible beam pointing is essential for transporting the beam along the electron beam line. We find experimentally that electrons are accelerated close to the laser axis at low plasma densities. However, at plasma densities in excess of 10¹⁹ cm^-3, electron beams have an elliptical beam profile with the major axis of the ellipse rotated with respect to the direction of polarization of the laser.

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R. C. Issac, G. Vieux, G. H Welsh, R. Shanks, E. Brunetti, S. Cipiccia, M. P. Anania, X. Yang, S. M. Wiggins, M. R. Islam, B. Ersfeld, J. Farmer, G. Raj, S. Chen, D. Clark, T. McCanny, and D. A. Jaroszynski "Electron beam pointing stability of a laser wakefield accelerator", Proc. SPIE 7359, Harnessing Relativistic Plasma Waves as Novel Radiation Sources from Terahertz to X-Rays and Beyond, 735915 (7 May 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.822165

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