Article abstract
Nature Photonics 2, 571 - 577 (2008)
Published online: 10 August 2008 | doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.155
Subject Category: Lasers, LEDs and light sources
Stable generation of GeV-class electron beams from self-guided laser–plasma channels
Nasr A. M. Hafz1, Tae Moon Jeong1, Il Woo Choi1, Seong Ku Lee1, Ki Hong Pae1, Victor V. Kulagin1, Jae Hee Sung1, Tae Jun Yu1, Kyung-Han Hong1, Tomonao Hosokai2, John R. Cary3,4, Do-Kyeong Ko1,5 & Jongmin Lee1,5
Abstract
Table-top laser-driven plasma accelerators are gaining attention for their potential use in miniaturizing future high-energy accelerators. By irradiating gas jet targets with ultrashort intense laser pulses, the generation of quasimonoenergetic electron beams was recently observed. Currently, the stability of beam generation and the ability to scale to higher electron beam energies are critical issues for practical laser acceleration. Here, we demonstrate the first generation of stable GeV-class electron beams from stable few-millimetre-long plasma channels in a self-guided wakefield acceleration process. As primary evidence of the laser wakefield acceleration in a bubble regime, we observed a boost of both the electron beam energy and quality by reducing the plasma density and increasing the plasma length in a 1-cm-long gas jet. Subsequent three-dimensional simulations show the possibility of achieving even higher electron beam energies by minimizing plasma bubble elongation, and we anticipate dramatic increases in beam energy and quality in the near future. This will pave the way towards ultracompact, all-optical electron beam accelerators and their applications in science, technology and medicine.
- Advanced Photonics Research Institute, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 500-712, Korea
- Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8502, Japan
- Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
- Tech-X Corporation, Boulder, Colorado 80303, USA
- School of Photon Science and Technology, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 500-712, Korea
Correspondence to: Kyung-Han Hong1 Present address: Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
Correspondence to: Jongmin Lee1,5 e-mail: leejm@gist.ac.kr
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