L.Gizzi (CNR Pisa),"Laser-plasma acceleration with self-injection: first electron bunches from the FLAME commissioning test experiment at LNF"
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Europe/Rome
131 (INFN Edificio C)
131
INFN Edificio C
Description
Laser-plasma acceleration (LPA) of electrons has recently reached the GeV energy level and progress is being made to achieve higher quality electron bunches with low emittance and reduced energy spread. The PLASMON-X project aims at establishing a platform for LPA with both self-injection and external injection with the FEL-grade SPARC linac. To this purpose, an entirely new laser laboratory named FLAME was established at LNF which includes a ultra-high intensity laser which can operate at 10 Hz, in a stand-alone mode or in sync with the LINAC beam. The FLAME laboratory is now fully assembled, including the laser and control-command, the laser transport line and the target area interaction for laser gas-jet interactions. The commissioning phase is now entering the so-called self-injection test experiment (SITE) phase in which laser-plasma acceleration with the self-injection scheme will be demonstrated to assess the overall performance of all the sub-systems.
Very recently we obtained the first accelerated electron bunches from the interaction of the femtosecond laser pulse with a nitrogen laminar gas-jet at a laser-intensity exceeding 2x10^18 W/cm2. First preliminary data show that highly collimated electron bunches can be obtained by tuning the laser focal spot position relative to the gas-jet and optimizing the steepness of the gas-jet edge to control the injection process. These preliminary data show that control of the main laser parameters at the target position have been achieved, including off-axis parabola focusing, pulse duration and beam pointing.
A detailed description of the laser and laboratory subsystems will be given along with an account of the theoretical model and numerical simulations for the self-injection experiment for GeV class laser-plasma acceleration of electrons. A summary of the first results will finally be given along with an update on the future steps for the completion of the commissioning of the FLAME laboratory.
