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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
All-Optical Control Of Electron Trapping In Plasma Channels, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Bradley A. Shadwick, Xavier Davoine
All-Optical Control Of Electron Trapping In Plasma Channels, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Bradley A. Shadwick, Xavier Davoine
Serge Youri Kalmykov
The accelerating bucket of a laser-plasma accelerator (a cavity of electron density maintained by the laser pulse radiation pressure) evolves slowly, in lock-step with the optical driver, and readily traps background electrons. The trapping process can thus be controlled by purely optical means. Sharp gradients in the nonlinear refractive index produce a large frequency red-shift, localized at the leading edge of the pulse. Negative group velocity dispersion associated with the plasma response compresses the laser pulse into a relativistic optical shock (ROS), slowing the pulse (and the bucket), reducing the electron dephasing length, and limiting energy gain. Even more importantly, …
Dark-Current-Free Laser-Plasma Acceleration In Blowout Regime Using Nonlinear Plasma Lens, Serguei Y. Kalmykov
Dark-Current-Free Laser-Plasma Acceleration In Blowout Regime Using Nonlinear Plasma Lens, Serguei Y. Kalmykov
Serge Youri Kalmykov
It is demonstrated that a thin dense plasma slab (lens), placed before a multi-centimeter-length, low-density plasma (accelerator), overfocuses an incident petawatt laser pulse at a controlled location inside the accelerator, creating an expanding electron density bubble that traps plasma electrons over a brief time interval. As soon as the pulse stabilizes and self-guiding begins, the bubble stabilizes and transforms into the first (non-broken) bucket of a conventional three-dimensional nonlinear plasma wave, eliminating any chance for further injection. A well collimated, quasi-monoenergetic electron bunch with a zero low-energy background further accelerates to a multi-GeV energy.