Letter abstract
Nature Physics 2, 696 - 699 (2006)
doi:10.1038/nphys418
Subject Categories: Plasma physics | Particle physics
GeV electron beams from a centimetre-scale accelerator
W. P. Leemans1, B. Nagler1, A. J. Gonsalves2, Cs. Tóth1, K. Nakamura1,3, C. G. R. Geddes1, E. Esarey1, C. B. Schroeder1 and S. M. Hooker2
Gigaelectron volt (GeV) electron accelerators are essential to synchrotron radiation facilities and free-electron lasers, and as modules for high-energy particle physics. Radiofrequency-based accelerators are limited to relatively low accelerating fields (10–50 MV m-1), requiring tens to hundreds of metres to reach the multi-GeV beam energies needed to drive radiation sources, and many kilometres to generate particle energies of interest to high-energy physics. Laser-wakefield accelerators1, 2 produce electric fields of the order 10–100 GV m-1 enabling compact devices. Previously, the required laser intensity was not maintained over the distance needed to reach GeV energies, and hence acceleration was limited to the 100 MeV scale3, 4, 5. Contrary to predictions that petawatt-class lasers would be needed to reach GeV energies6, 7, here we demonstrate production of a high-quality electron beam with 1 GeV energy by channelling a 40 TW peak-power laser pulse in a 3.3-cm-long gas-filled capillary discharge waveguide8, 9.
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
- University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK
- Nuclear Professional School, University of Tokyo, 22-2 Shirane-shirakata, Tokai, Naka, Ibaraki 319-1188, Japan
Correspondence to: W. P. Leemans1 e-mail: WPLeemans@lbl.gov
Correspondence to: W. P. Leemans1E. Esarey1 Also at: Physics Department, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Compact X-ray sources Towards a table-top free-electron laserNature Physics News and Views (01 Feb 2008)
Plasma physics Surfing the wakeNature News and Views (13 Aug 1998)
See all 6 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Stable generation of GeV-class electron beams from self-guided laser?plasma channelsNature Photonics Article (01 Sep 2008)
A compact synchrotron radiation source driven by a laser-plasma wakefield acceleratorNature Physics Letter (01 Feb 2008)
See all 14 matches for Research
