GeV-scale electron acceleration in a gas-filled capillary discharge waveguide

S Karsch, J Osterhoff, A Popp, T P Rowlands-Rees, Zs Major, M Fuchs, B Marx, R Hörlein, K Schmid, L Veisz, S Becker, U Schramm, B Hidding, G Pretzler, D Habs, F Grüner, F Krausz, S M Hooker

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144 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report experimental results on laser-driven electron acceleration with low divergence. The electron beam was generated by focussing 750 mJ, 42 fs laser pulses into a gas-filled capillary discharge waveguide at electron densities in the range between 1018 and 1019cm-3. Quasi-monoenergetic electron bunches with energies as high as 500MeV have been detected, with features reaching up to 1 GeV, albeit with large shot-to-shot fluctuations. A more stable regime with higher bunch charge (20-45 pC) and less energy (200-300 MeV) could also be observed. The beam divergence and the pointing stability are around or below 1 mrad and 8 mrad, respectively. These findings are consistent with self-injection of electrons into a breaking plasma wave.

Original languageEnglish
Article number415
Number of pages11
JournalNew Journal of Physics
Volume9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Nov 2007

Keywords

  • electron beams
  • plasma waves
  • particle accelerators

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