Speaker
Dr
Olle Lundh
(Lund University)
Description
Laser wakefield accelerators appear promising as compact sources of highly relativistic electrons and ultrashort pulses of X-rays. However, improving the control of the electron- and X-ray beam parameters is crucially important in order to enable laser wakefield accelerators to be efficiently used in applications. We report on our recent experiments of laser wakefield acceleration and X-ray generation inside a variable length gas cell. The motivation is to generate electron beams with a well defined electron kinetic energy and with low shot-to-shot fluctuations in charge, divergence and pointing. The experiments are performed using the Ti:Sapphire-based multi-terawatt laser at the Lund Laser Centre. Electrons are trapped in the accelerating phase of the plasma wave by self-injection and ionization-induced injection. Stable electron- and X-ray beams are generated both when the cell is filled with pure hydrogen and with an addition of 1% nitrogen. The evolution of the electron- and X-ray energy spectra is studied as a function of acceleration distance by varying the length of the gas cell. The experimental findings are qualitatively reproduced in particle-in-cell simulations.
Primary author
Dr
Olle Lundh
(Lund University)
Co-authors
Dr
Anders Persson
(Lund University)
Dr
Bastian Aurand
(Lund University)
Dr
Brigitte CROS
(Université Paris-Sud XI)
Prof.
Claes-Göran Wahlström
(Lund University)
Mr
Frédéric Guillaume Desforges
(Université Paris-Sud XI)
Mr
Henrik Ekerfelt
(Lund University)
Ms
Isabel Gallardo Gonzalez
(Lund University)
Mr
Martin Hansson
(Lund University)
Mr
Thomas Audet
(Université Paris-Sud XI)
Dr
Xavier Davoine
(CEA DAM DIF)
Mrs
sandrine dobosz dufrenoy
(CEA Saclay)
