Speaker
Mr
Nuno Candeias Lemos
(Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
Description
We show through experiments and supporting simulations the role of direct laser acceleration (DLA) of electrons in a laser wakefield accelerator when ionization injection of electrons is employed. The laser pulse is intense enough to create a nonlinear wakefield and long enough to overlap the electrons trapped in the first accelerating potential well (bucket) of the wakefield. The betatron oscillations of the trapped electrons in the plane of the laser polarization in the presence of an ion column lead to an energy transfer from the laser pulse to the electrons through DLA. We show that the produced electron beams exhibit characteristic features that are indicative of DLA as an additional acceleration mechanism when the laser pulse overlaps the trapped electrons.
This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0001944, the University of Rochester, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. The support of DOE does not constitute an endorsement by DOE of the views expressed in this article.
Primary author
Dr
Jessica Shaw
(Laboratory for Laser Energetics)
Co-authors
Prof.
Chandrashekhar Joshi
(UCLA)
Dr
Dustin Froula
(Laboratory for Laser Energetics)
Dr
Frank Tsung
(UCLA)
Mr
Kenneth Marsh
(UCLA)
Ms
Ligia Diana Amorim
(GoLP/Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa)
Dr
Navid Vafaei-Najafabadi
(Stony Brook University)
Mr
Nuno Candeias Lemos
(Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
Dr
Warren Mori
(UCLA)
