TY - JOUR
T1 - Electron trapping and acceleration on a downward density ramp: a two-stage approach
AU - Trines, R.M.G.M.
AU - Bingham, R.
AU - Najmudin, Z.
AU - Mangles, S.
AU - Silva, L.O.
AU - Fonseca, R.
AU - Norreys, P.A.
PY - 2010/4/30
Y1 - 2010/4/30
N2 - In a recent experiment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(Geddes et al 2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 215004), electron bunches with about
1MeV mean energy and small absolute energy spread (about 0.3MeV) were
produced by plasma wave breaking on a downward density ramp. It was then
speculated that such a bunch might be accelerated further in a plasma of low
constant density, while mostly preserving its small absolute energy spread. This
would then lead to a bunch with a high mean energy and very low relative energy
spread. In this paper, trapping of a low-energy, low-spread electron bunch on a
downward density ramp, followed by acceleration in a constant-density plasma,
has been explored through particle-in-cell simulations. It has been found that
the scheme works best when it is used as a separate injection stage for a laserwakefield
accelerator, where the injection and acceleration stages are separated
by a vacuum gap.
AB - In a recent experiment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(Geddes et al 2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 215004), electron bunches with about
1MeV mean energy and small absolute energy spread (about 0.3MeV) were
produced by plasma wave breaking on a downward density ramp. It was then
speculated that such a bunch might be accelerated further in a plasma of low
constant density, while mostly preserving its small absolute energy spread. This
would then lead to a bunch with a high mean energy and very low relative energy
spread. In this paper, trapping of a low-energy, low-spread electron bunch on a
downward density ramp, followed by acceleration in a constant-density plasma,
has been explored through particle-in-cell simulations. It has been found that
the scheme works best when it is used as a separate injection stage for a laserwakefield
accelerator, where the injection and acceleration stages are separated
by a vacuum gap.
KW - accelerators
KW - beams
KW - electromagnetism
KW - nuclear physics
KW - instrumentation and measurement
KW - plasma physics
KW - particle physics
KW - field theory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77952589415&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/1367-2630/1
U2 - 10.1088/1367-2630/12/4/045027
DO - 10.1088/1367-2630/12/4/045027
M3 - Article
VL - 12
JO - New Journal of Physics
JF - New Journal of Physics
SN - 1367-2630
M1 - 045027
ER -