13–19 Sept 2015
La Biodola, Isola d'Elba
Europe/Rome timezone

Controlled injection of plasma electrons into a laser-driven wakefield using a variable lenght gas target

17 Sept 2015, 16:50
20m
SML Sala Maria Luisa (Hotel Hermitage)

SML Sala Maria Luisa

Hotel Hermitage

talk WG1 - Electron beams from plasmas WG1 - Electron beams from plasmas

Speaker

Olena Kononenko (Deutsches-Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY))

Description

Plasma wakefields can support very high field gradients (~ 100 GV/m) which makes particle acceleration to ultra-relativistic energies possible within a few millimeters. Precise control over the electron bunch phasespace during the process of injection into the accelerating wakefield is needed for the production of high-quality electron beams. Shaping of the longitudinal plasma-density profile, e.g. through the use of downramps, has been proposed as a possible controlled injection mechanism [1,2, e.g.]. In this report the study of density down-ramp injection into a plasma wakefield using gas target of variable length is presented. Suitable target density profiles, with a short down ramp length, preceded by a high-density peak are of crucial importance. The target is a gas cell with variable length of peak and plateau regions and was operated with a helium. The goals and first preliminary results of the experiment are presented, including hydrodynamic simulations of the tailored target, performed using OpenFOAM. [1] S. Bulanov et al., Phys. Rev. E 58, R5257 (1998) [2] H. Suk et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 1011–1014 (2001)

Primary author

Olena Kononenko (Deutsches-Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY))

Co-authors

Dr Charlotte Palmer (DESY) Mr Jason Cole (Imperial College London) Dr Jens Osterhoff (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY) Mr Nelson Carreira-Lopes (Imperial College London) Prof. Zulfikar Najmudin (Imperial College London)

Presentation materials