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Stable generation of GeV-class electron beams from self-guided laser–plasma channels

Nature Photonics volume 2, pages 571–577 (2008)Cite this article

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.

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Figure 1: Schematic of the laser wakefield acceleration experiment.
Figure 2: Energy scaling of quasimonoenergetic electron beams.
Figure 3: Stable multi-hundred-MeV quasimonoenergetic electron beams.
Figure 4: GeV-class quasimonoenergetic electron beams.
Figure 5: Three-dimensional PIC simulation results using the VORPAL code.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S.W. Kang for his technical support during the experiment. We acknowledge useful discussions with H.T. Kim, Y.C. Noh, H. Kotaki, M. Uesaka, K. Nakajima and T. Tajima. This work was supported by the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy of Korea through the Ultrashort Quantum Beam Facility Program.

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Author notes

  1. Kyung-Han Hong

    Present address: Present address: Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Photonics Research Institute, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, 500-712, Korea

    Nasr A. M. Hafz, Tae Moon Jeong, Il Woo Choi, Seong Ku Lee, Ki Hong Pae, Victor V. Kulagin, Jae Hee Sung, Tae Jun Yu, Kyung-Han Hong, Do-Kyeong Ko & Jongmin Lee

  2. Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, 226-8502, Japan

    Tomonao Hosokai

  3. Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, 80309, Colorado, USA

    John R. Cary

  4. Tech-X Corporation, Boulder, 80303, Colorado, USA

    John R. Cary

  5. School of Photon Science and Technology, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, 500-712, Korea

    Do-Kyeong Ko & Jongmin Lee

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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jongmin Lee.

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Hafz, N., Jeong, T., Choi, I. et al. Stable generation of GeV-class electron beams from self-guided laser–plasma channels. Nature Photon 2, 571–577 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.155

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