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Hamiltonian theory of electron self-injection

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Physics Of Quasi-Monoenergetic Laser-Plasma Acceleration Of Electrons In The Blowout Regime, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Bradley A. Shadwick, Arnaud Beck, Erik Lefebvre Oct 2011

Physics Of Quasi-Monoenergetic Laser-Plasma Acceleration Of Electrons In The Blowout Regime, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Bradley A. Shadwick, Arnaud Beck, Erik Lefebvre

Serge Youri Kalmykov

No abstract provided.


Electron Self-Injection Into An Evolving Plasma Bubble: Quasi-Monoenergetic Laser-Plasma Acceleration In The Blowout Regime, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Arnaud Beck, Sunghwan A. Yi, Vladimir N. Khudik, Michael C. Downer, Erik Lefebvre, Bradley A. Shadwick, Donald P. Umstadter Apr 2011

Electron Self-Injection Into An Evolving Plasma Bubble: Quasi-Monoenergetic Laser-Plasma Acceleration In The Blowout Regime, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Arnaud Beck, Sunghwan A. Yi, Vladimir N. Khudik, Michael C. Downer, Erik Lefebvre, Bradley A. Shadwick, Donald P. Umstadter

Donald P. Umstadter

An electron density bubble driven in a rarefied uniform plasma by a slowly evolving laser pulse goes through periods of adiabatically slow expansions and contractions. Bubble expansion causes robust self-injection of initially quiescent plasma electrons, whereas stabilization and contraction terminate self-injection thus limiting injected charge; concomitant phase space rotation reduces the bunch energy spread. In regimes relevant to experiments with hundred terawatt- to petawatt-class lasers, bubble dynamics and, hence, the self-injection process are governed primarily by the driver evolution. Collective transverse fields of the trapped electron bunch reduce the accelerating gradient and slow down phase space rotation. Bubble expansion followed …


Electron Self-Injection Into An Evolving Plasma Bubble: Quasi-Monoenergetic Laser-Plasma Acceleration In The Blowout Regime, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Arnaud Beck, Sunghwan A. Yi, Vladimir N. Khudik, Michael C. Downer, Erik Lefebvre, Bradley A. Shadwick, Donald P. Umstadter Apr 2011

Electron Self-Injection Into An Evolving Plasma Bubble: Quasi-Monoenergetic Laser-Plasma Acceleration In The Blowout Regime, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Arnaud Beck, Sunghwan A. Yi, Vladimir N. Khudik, Michael C. Downer, Erik Lefebvre, Bradley A. Shadwick, Donald P. Umstadter

Serge Youri Kalmykov

An electron density bubble driven in a rarefied uniform plasma by a slowly evolving laser pulse goes through periods of adiabatically slow expansions and contractions. Bubble expansion causes robust self-injection of initially quiescent plasma electrons, whereas stabilization and contraction terminate self-injection thus limiting injected charge; concomitant phase space rotation reduces the bunch energy spread. In regimes relevant to experiments with hundred terawatt- to petawatt-class lasers, bubble dynamics and, hence, the self-injection process are governed primarily by the driver evolution. Collective transverse fields of the trapped electron bunch reduce the accelerating gradient and slow down phase space rotation. Bubble expansion followed …


Hamiltonian Analysis Of Electron Self-Injection And Acceleration Into An Evolving Plasma Bubble, Sunghwan A. Yi, Vladimir N. Khudik, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Gennady Shvets Dec 2010

Hamiltonian Analysis Of Electron Self-Injection And Acceleration Into An Evolving Plasma Bubble, Sunghwan A. Yi, Vladimir N. Khudik, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Gennady Shvets

Serge Youri Kalmykov

Injection and acceleration of the background plasma electrons in laser wakefield accelerators (LWFA) operated in the blowout (‘bubble’) regime are analysed. Using a model of a slowly expanding spherical plasma bubble propagating with an ultra-relativistic speed, we derive a sufficient condition for the electron injection: the change in the electron’s Hamiltonian in the co-moving with the bubble reference frame must exceed its rest mass energy m_{e}c^2. We demonstrate the existence of the minimal expansion rate of the bubble needed for electron injection. We demonstrate that if the bubble’s expansion is followed by its stabilization or contraction, then a quasi-monoenergetic electron …


Electron Self-Injection Into An Evolving Plasma Bubble: The Way To A Dark Current Free Gev-Scale Laser Accelerator, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Arnaud Beck, Sunghwan A. Yi, Vladimir N. Khudik, Bradley A. Shadwick, Erik Lefebvre, Michael C. Downer Nov 2010

Electron Self-Injection Into An Evolving Plasma Bubble: The Way To A Dark Current Free Gev-Scale Laser Accelerator, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Arnaud Beck, Sunghwan A. Yi, Vladimir N. Khudik, Bradley A. Shadwick, Erik Lefebvre, Michael C. Downer

Serge Youri Kalmykov

A time-varying electron density bubble created by the radiation pressure of a tightly focused petawatt laser pulse traps electrons of ambient rarefied plasma and accelerates them to a GeV energy over a few-cm distance. Expansion of the bubble caused by the shape variation of the self-guided pulse is the primary cause of electron self-injection in strongly rarefied plasmas (n_0 ~ 10^{17} cm^{−3}). Stabilization and contraction of the bubble extinguishes the injection. After the bubble stabilization, longitudinal non-uniformity of the accelerating gradient results in a rapid phase space rotation that produces a quasi-monoenergetic bunch well before the de-phasing limit. Combination of …


Electron Self-Injection And Trapping Into An Evolving Plasma Bubble, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Sunghwan A. Yi, Vladimir N. Khudik, Gennady Shvets Sep 2009

Electron Self-Injection And Trapping Into An Evolving Plasma Bubble, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Sunghwan A. Yi, Vladimir N. Khudik, Gennady Shvets

Serge Youri Kalmykov

The blowout (or bubble) regime of laser wakefield acceleration is promising for generating monochromatic high-energy electron beams out of low-density plasmas. It is shown analytically and by particle-in-cell simulations that self-injection of the background plasma electrons into the quasistatic plasma bubble can be caused by slow temporal expansion of the bubble. Sufficient criteria for the electron trapping and bubble’s expansion rate are derived using a semianalytic nonstationary Hamiltonian theory. It is further shown that the combination of bubble’s expansion and contraction results in monoenergetic electron beams.