Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 043046 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | New Journal of Physics |
| Volume | 20 |
| Early online date | 16 Mar 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 20 Apr 2018 |
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Keywords
- terahertz generation
- laser-driven electron acceleration
- electron beams
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High-energy coherent terahertz radiation emitted by wide-angle electron beams from a laser-wakefield accelerator. / Yang, Xue; Brunetti, Enrico; Jaroszynski, Dino A.
In: New Journal of Physics, Vol. 20, 043046, 20.04.2018.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - High-energy coherent terahertz radiation emitted by wide-angle electron beams from a laser-wakefield accelerator
AU - Yang, Xue
AU - Brunetti, Enrico
AU - Jaroszynski, Dino A.
PY - 2018/4/20
Y1 - 2018/4/20
N2 - High-charge electron beams produced by laser-wakefield accelerators are potentially novel, scalable sources of high-power terahertz radiation suitable for applications requiring high-intensity fields. When an intense laser pulse propagates in underdense plasma, it can generate femtosecond duration, self-injected picocoulomb electron bunches that accelerate on-axis to energies from 10s of MeV to several GeV, depending on laser intensity and plasma density. The process leading to the formation of the accelerating structure also generates non-injected, sub-picosecond duration, 1-2~MeV nanocoulomb electron beams emitted obliquely into a hollow cone around the laser propagation axis. These wide-angle beams are stable and depend weakly on laser and plasma parameters. Here we perform simulations to characterise the coherent transition radiation emitted by these beams if passed through a thin metal foil, or directly at the plasma-vacuum interface, showing that coherent terahertz radiation with 10s~$\mu$J to mJ-level energy can be produced with an optical to terahertz conversion efficiency up to 10^{-4}-10^{-3}.
AB - High-charge electron beams produced by laser-wakefield accelerators are potentially novel, scalable sources of high-power terahertz radiation suitable for applications requiring high-intensity fields. When an intense laser pulse propagates in underdense plasma, it can generate femtosecond duration, self-injected picocoulomb electron bunches that accelerate on-axis to energies from 10s of MeV to several GeV, depending on laser intensity and plasma density. The process leading to the formation of the accelerating structure also generates non-injected, sub-picosecond duration, 1-2~MeV nanocoulomb electron beams emitted obliquely into a hollow cone around the laser propagation axis. These wide-angle beams are stable and depend weakly on laser and plasma parameters. Here we perform simulations to characterise the coherent transition radiation emitted by these beams if passed through a thin metal foil, or directly at the plasma-vacuum interface, showing that coherent terahertz radiation with 10s~$\mu$J to mJ-level energy can be produced with an optical to terahertz conversion efficiency up to 10^{-4}-10^{-3}.
KW - terahertz generation
KW - laser-driven electron acceleration
KW - electron beams
UR - http://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1367-2630
U2 - 10.1088/1367-2630/aab74d
DO - 10.1088/1367-2630/aab74d
M3 - Article
VL - 20
JO - New Journal of Physics
JF - New Journal of Physics
SN - 1367-2630
M1 - 043046
ER -