Merging laser beams can be used to replenish the driver in a seamless multistage laser-plasma accelerator, and can enhance the X-ray emission produced by betatron electron oscillations. We experimentally demonstrate merging of two laser wakefields in plasma. A 150 TW peak-power laser beam is split in two halves which are focused at a small angle in a gas. Each laser pulse drives a plasma...
In this contribution we report simulations assessing the feasibility of driving a Free Electron Laser (FEL) at the Angstrom wavelength level by a plasma boosted, high brightness electron beam.
A 500 MeV, 30 pC bunch, accelerated by a conventional Radio Frequency linac, is injected in a laser driven plasma wave and its energy boosted up to 5 GeV and more. A large beam charge portion retains the...
We provide an overview of three areas of our programme which seek to address the challenge of realizing controlled laser wakefield accelerators (LWFAs) operating at kilohertz repetition rates. Driving plasma accelerators with trains of laser pulses offers the potential to use laser systems capable of multi-kilohertz pulse repetition rate with high wall-plug efficiency. We describe a...
FLASHForward is a beam-driven plasma-wakefield research facility at DESY (Hamburg, Germany), aiming at the stable generation and acceleration of electron beams of several GeV with small energy spread and emittance. High-quality GeV-, nC-class electron beams from the free-electron laser FLASH will act as the wake driver. The experimental setup will allow for studies of external injection as...
