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Accordion effect revisited: Generation of comb-like electron beams in plasma channels
AIP Conference Proceedings (2016)
  • Serge Y Kalmykov
  • X. Davoine, CEA, DAM DIF
  • Remi Lehe, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • Agustin F. Lifschitz
  • Bradley A. Shadwick, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Abstract
Propagating a short, relativistically intense laser pulse in a plasma channel makes it possible to generate comb-like electron beams – sequences of synchronized, low phase-space volume bunches with controllable energy difference. The tail of the pulse, confined in the accelerator cavity (electron density “bubble”), transversely flaps, as the pulse head steadily self-guides. The resulting oscillations of the cavity size cause periodic injection of electrons from ambient plasma, creating an energy comb with the number of components, their energy, and energy separation dependent on the channel radius and pulse length. Accumulation of noise (continuously injected charge) can be prevented using a negatively chirped drive pulse with a bandwidth close to a one-half of the carrier wavelength. These comb-like beams can drive tunable, multi-color gamma-ray sources.
Keywords
  • Laser wakefield acceleration,
  • blowout,
  • plasma channel,
  • electron beam shaping,
  • PIC simulations
Publication Date
Fall October 28, 2016
DOI
10.1063/1.4965609
Citation Information
Serge Y Kalmykov, X. Davoine, Remi Lehe, Agustin F. Lifschitz, et al.. "Accordion effect revisited: Generation of comb-like electron beams in plasma channels" AIP Conference Proceedings Vol. 1777 (2016) p. 040007 ISSN: 0094-243X
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/serguei_kalmykov/52/
Creative Commons license
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC_BY International License.