Optically Guided Laser Wakefield Acceleration
Abstract
The possibility of utilizing the fields of an intense laser beam to accelerate particles to high energies has attracted a great deal of interest. The study of laser driven accelerators is motivated by the ultrahigh fields associated with high intensity laser pulses. The peak amplitude of the transverse electric field of the laser pulse is given . A laser driven accelerator that has a number of attractive features is the laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA). In the LWFA, a short intense laser pulse propagates through an underdense plasma. The ponderomotive force associated with the laser pulse envelope expels electrons from the region of the laser pulse. If the laser pulse is sufficiently intense, virtually all of the plasma electrons will be expelled. When the laser pulse length is approximately equal to the plasma wavelength, large amplitude plasma waves (wakefields) will be excited with phase velocities approximately equal to the laser pulse group velocity. The axial and transverse electric fields associated with the wakefield can accelerate and focus a trailing electron beam. The ratio of the accelerating field, E sub z, to the laser field in the LWFA is given
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 19, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA265441
Entities
People
- Antonio Ting
- Eric Esarey
- Glenn Joyce
- J. Krall
- Phillip A. Sprangle
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory