The laser wake-field accelerator (LWFA) traditionally produces high brightness, quasi-monoenergetic electron beams with Gaussian-like spatial and angular distributions. In the present work we investigate the generation of ultra-relativistic beams with ring-like structures in the blowout regime of the LWFA using a dual stage accelerator. A density down-ramp triggers injection after the first stage and is used to produce ring-like electron spectra in the 300 - 600 MeV energy range. These well defined, annular beams are observed simultaneously with the on-axis, high energy electron beams, with a divergence of a few milliradians. The rings have quasi-monoenergetic energy spectra with an RMS spread estimated to be less than 5%. Particle-in-cell simulations confirm that off-axis injection provides the electrons with the initial transverse momentum necessary to undertake distinct betatron oscillations within the plasma bubble during their acceleration process.
Compact γ-ray sources are of key importance not only for fundamental research but also for paramount practical applications such as cancer radiotherapy, active interrogation of materials, and high-energy radiography. Particular characteristics are required for meaningful implementation: multi-MeV energies per photon, a high degree of collimation, and a high peak brilliance. Laser-driven sources are theoretically expected to deliver such capabilities but experiments to date have reported either sub-MeV photon energies, or relatively low brilliance. By entering the non-linear regime of Thomson scattering, we report here on the first experimental realisation of a compact laser-driven γ-ray source that simultaneously ensures ultra-high brilliance (≈1019 photons s-1 mm-2 mrad-2 0.1% BW), low divergence (≈ mrad), and high photon energy (up to 18 MeV). The reported brilliance exceeds by two orders of magnitudes those of alternative mechanisms and it is the highest ever achieved in the multi-MeV regime in a laboratory experiment.
Relativistic electron beams have applications spanning materials science, medicine, and home- land security. Recent advances in short pulse laser technology have enabled the production of very high focused intensities at kHz rep rates. Consequently this has led to the generation of high ux sources of relativistic electrons- which is a necessary characteristic of these laser plasma sources for any potential application. In our experiments, through the generation of a plasma with the lambda cubed laser system at the University of Michigan (a 5 × 1018W=cm2, 500 Hz, Ti:Sapphire laser), we have measured electrons ejected from the surface of fused silica nd Cu targets having energies in excess of an MeV. The spectrum of these electrons was measured with respect to incident laser angle, prepulse timing, and focusing conditions. While taken at a high repetition rate, the pulse energy of the lambda cubed system was consistently on the order of 10 mJ. In order to predict scaling of the electron energy with laser pulse energy, simulations are underway which compare the spectrum generated with the lambda cubed system to the predicted spectrum generated on the petawatt scale HERCULES laser system at the University of Michigan.
Evidence of magnetic reconnection (MR) events driven by relativistic electrons is observed between two high-intensity laser/plasma interaction sites. The two laser foci were on average 20um FWHM containing 50TW of power each, delivered with a split f/3 paraboloid onto copper foil targets at a focused intensity of 1019 W/cm2 with the HERCULES laser system. Cu K-alpha emissions from the interactions were imaged with a spherically bent Quartz crystal, and by motorizing one half of the paraboloid vertically the focal separation was varied between 0- 400um.
Splitting the beam halves revealed an enhanced region between the foci with the highest a maximized K-alpha signal intensity at one inter-beam separation, evidencing inflow from relativistic electron driven MR. A filtered LANEX screen was imaged to search for outflow/jet electrons along the plane of the target surface and normal to the axis defined by the two spots, to calculate the electron temperature and to search for spatial profile nonuniformities potentially directly originating from reconnection events. Ongoing 2D and 3D PIC simulations are being conducted to better understand and model the measured electron outflow dynamics.
An ultra-relativistic electron beam passing through a thick, high-Z solid target triggers an electromagnetic cascade, whereby a large number of high energy photons and electron-positron pairs are produced. By exploiting this physical process, we present here the first experimental evidence of the generation of ultra-short, highly collimated and ultra-relativistic positron beams following the interaction of a laser-wakefield accelerated electron beam with high-Z solid targets. Clear evidence has also been obtained of the generation of GeV electron-positron jets with variable composition depending on the solid target material and thickness. The percentage of positrons in the overall leptonic beam has been observed to vary from a few per cent up to almost fifty per cent, implying a quasi-neutral electron-positron beam. We anticipate that these beams will be of direct relevance to the laboratory study of astrophysical leptonic jets and their interaction with the interstellar medium.
We report on an experimental demonstration of laser wake field electron acceleration using few-milijoule laser pulses tightly focused on a 100 μm scale gas target. Using a comparatively low energy pulse has the benefit of a more compact system with a high repetition rate (typically kHz), which can prove useful for both practical applications and better statistical studies of laser plasma interactions. A proof-of-principle experiment was conducted to demonstrate the applicability of such electron sources from laser plasma wake field accelerator for ultrafast electron diffraction.
Experiments at the HERCULES laser facility, originally reported by C. Zulick, et al in Applied Physics Letters (2013), have produced neutron beams with energies up to 16:8(±0:3) MeV using 73Li(d,n)84Be reactions. These efficient deuteron reactions required the selective acceleration of deuterons through the introduction of a deuterated plastic or cryogenically frozen D2O layer on the surface of a thin film target. It was shown that a optimized frozen D2O layer, formed in situ, yielded the highest efficiency deuteron acceleration with deuterons constituting over 99% of the accelerated light ions. The deuteron signal was optimized with respect to the delay between the heavy water deposition and laser pulse arrival, as well as the temperature of the target. A total conversion efficiency of laser energy to neutron energy of 1(±0:5) × 10−5 was obtained. The simulated neutron signal was found to be in reasonable agreement with the experimental spectra. The scattering of neutrons through shielding and target materials was investigated with MCNPX and determined to have a small effect on the observed neutron energies.
KEYWORDS: Electrons, X-rays, Plasma, Optical filters, Photons, Pulsed laser operation, Electron beams, X-ray sources, Simulation of CCA and DLA aggregates, Synchrotrons
The dynamics of relativistic electrons in a laser driven plasma cavity are studied via measurements of their
radiation. For ultrashort laser pulses at comparatively low focused laser intensities (3 < a0 < 10), low density
and long f-number of 10, electrons are predominantly accelerated in the wakefield leading to quasi-monoenergetic
collimated electron beams and well collimated (< 12 mrad) beams of comparatively soft x-rays (1-10 keV) with
unprecedented small source size (2-3 μm). For laser pulses with increasing laser intensity (10 < a0 < 30),
density and short f-number (< 5), electrons are accelerated directly by the laser, leading to divergent quasimaxwellian
electron beams and divergent (50-95°) beams of hard x-rays (20-50 keV) with relatively large source
size (> 100 μm). In both cases, the measured x-rays are well described in the synchrotron asymptotic limit of
electrons oscillating in a plasma channel. At low laser intensity transverse oscillations are small as the electrons
are predominantly accelerated axially by the laser generated wakefield. At high laser intensity, electrons are
directly accelerated by the laser. A betatron resonance leads to a tenfold increase in transverse oscillation
amplitude and electrons enter a highly radiative regime with up to 5% of their energy converted into x-rays.
The experimental results on generation of high gain-length product for 13.5 nm radiation from 2 - 1 transition in hydrogen-like Li III ions are presented for 1 micrometers subpicosecond pumping laser. The comparison with earlier results, obtained with 0.25 micrometers subpicosecond pumping laser, is discussed in terms of gain generation efficiency. The results for discharge created pre-plasma in L equals 4 mm and L equals 14 mm microcapillaries are also presented.
David Neely, Colin Danson, Ric Allott, F. Amiranoff, E. Clark, Chris Clayton, J. Collier, A. Dangor, A. Djaoui, Christopher Edwards, P. Flintoff, Daniel Gordon, P. Hatton, Mark Harman, M. Hutchinson, K. Krushelnick, G. Malka, Victor Malka, A. Modena, Z. Najmudin, David Pepler, Ian Ross, M. Salvati, M. Santala, M. Tatarakis, M. Trentelman, T. Winstone
Frequency doubling a large aperture sub ps, chirped pulse amplified (CPA) 1053 nm beam for laser matter interaction studies was investigated at the Central Laser Facility. Efficiencies > 50 percent were achieved using a 4 mm thick KDP crystal to convert a 140 X 89 mm 700 fs beam. Measurements of the 527 nm beam's focal spot quality when the doubling crystal was driven at high intensities 200 GWcm-2 are presented. Using data from 2 and 4 m thick 25 mm diameter test crystals, the optimum crystal thickness in terms of conversion efficiency is reviewed for 1053 nm CPA systems in the 0.3-3 ps region and options for fourth harmonic production discussed.
We present recent results on the development of a small scale soft X-ray laser with low pumping laser energy using a multi-fin target in a two-target chamber. With only 4 J (2 ns) laser beam energy a maximum gain of 7.1 cm-1 was measured for the CVI 18.2 nm line for a single 6 mm long target. Similar gain (6.5 cm-1) was also measured for the CVI 13.5 nm line. Control of the gain region in the plasma was demonstrated by changing the influx of iron into the plasma. We also present results from our attempt to generate gain on the 2-1 transition in LiIII at 13.5 nm using a powerful sub-picosecond KrF laser system following work by the RIKEN (Japan) group.
An overview of the X-ray Laser project at Princeton University will be given. Emphasis will be on improvements being made to the small scale soft x-ray laser (SXL). New target designs to enhance cooling and others to reduce losses due to beam refraction have been introduced though results are stilt preliminary. Proof of principle experiments for the application of the SXL to both transmission and reflection microscopy have been performed. To generate shorter wavelength x-ray lasers on a reasonable scale-size, a high power, 300 fsec pulse duration, ultraviolet KrF laser system (the PSP-laser) has been developed. Of the several theoretical schemes which exist, the two-laser approach and a newly proposed recombination approach will be described. The new approach proposes to scale the existing 18.2 nm recombination x-ray laser to shorter wavelength (<4 nm) by making use of the short-pulse pump laser and rapid cooling associated with the adiabatic expansion of µsphere targets.
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