24–30 Sept 2017
La Biodola, Isola d'Elba
Europe/Rome timezone

Feedback control of the spatio-temporal properties of high-intensity laser pulses to optimize x-ray and 100 MeV electron generation

25 Sept 2017, 16:00
30m
SBIO, Sala Biodola, Hotel Biodola

SBIO, Sala Biodola, Hotel Biodola

talk WG7 - High Brightness Power Sources: from Laser Technology to Beam Drivers WG7_Parallel

Speaker

Dan Symes (Central Laser Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, UK)

Description

We describe how active feedback routines can be applied at limited repetition rate (5 Hz) to optimise high power laser interactions with clustered gases. X-ray generation and 100 MeV electron beams were produced and optimized using genetic algorithms approximately doubling the x-ray flux and increasing electron beam charge by a factor of 3. The complicated interaction dynamics of the cluster ionization and absorption processes and laser dispersion in plasma, all controlled through the feedback loop, lead to the evolution of the laser pulse into a slowly rising intensity profile or multiple pulses, which we believe optimises the few-picosecond expansion and subsequent laser energy coupling into the cluster medium and tailors the plasma wake acceleration process. Our work suggests that this technique can be more widely utilised for control of intense pulsed secondary radiation from petawatt-class laser systems. This demonstration represents an important step towards the improvement of these sources for their use in scientific and societal applications

Primary author

Dan Symes (Central Laser Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, UK)

Co-authors

Alec Thomas alec.thomas@lancaster.ac.uk (Cockcroft Institute, STFC Daresbury Laboratory) Bryn Parry (STFC,RAL,CLF) Chris Gregory (STFC,RAL,CLF) Chris Hooker (STFC,RAL,CLF) Christopher Baird (Department of Physics, University of York) Christopher Murphy (Department of Physics, University of York) Christopher Thornton (STFC,RAL,CLF) Dave Scott (Cockcroft Institute, STFC Daresbury Laboratory) Dipanjana Hazra (Laser Plasma Section, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology) Emma Springate (STFC,RAL,CLF) Jan-Niclas Gruse (The John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London) Dr Jens Osterhoff (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY) Jungmoo Hah (Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan) Dr Matthew Streeter (The Cockcroft Institute) Nicolas Bourgeois (STFC,RAL,CLF) Oleg Chekhlov (STFC,RAL,CLF) Paul Pourmoussavi (DESY) R. Venkata (TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences,) Rajeev Pattathil (STFC,RAL,CLF) Roland Smith (Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London) Sam Eardley (Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London) Savio Rozario (The John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London) Sheroy Tata (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) Stephen Dann (Cockcroft Institute, STFC Daresbury Laboratory) Steve Hawkes (STFC,RAL,CLF) Stuart Mangles (The John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London) Victoria Marshall (STFC,RAL,CLF) Yunxin Tang (STFC,RAL,CLF) Zulfikar Najmudin (The John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London)

Presentation materials