TY - JOUR
T1 - Ultrashort pulse filamentation and monoenergetic electron beam production in lwfas
AU - Thomas, A.G.R.
AU - Mangles, S.P.D.
AU - Murphy, C.D.
AU - Dangor, A.E.
AU - Foster, P.S.
AU - Gallacher, J.G.
AU - Jaroszynski, D.A.
AU - Kamperidis, C.
N1 - Strathprints' policy is to record up to 8 authors per publication, plus any additional authors based at the University of Strathclyde. More authors may be listed on the official publication than appear in the Strathprints' record. http://suprimo.lib.strath.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?ct=display&doc=SUVOY607719&indx=2&frbg=&dum=true&vid=SUVU01&vl(54032236UI0)=lsr02&vl(96071691UI1)=all_items&srt=rank&indx=1&dstmp=1269949799666&tab=local&ct=search&scp.scps=scope%3A(SU)&vl(freeText0)=Plasma%20physics%20and%20controlled%20fusion&fn=search&mode=Basic&dscnt=0
PY - 2009/2
Y1 - 2009/2
N2 - In the experiments reported here, the filamentation of ultrashort laser pulses, due to non-optimal choice of focusing geometry and/or electron number density, has a severely deleterious effect on monoenergetic electron beam production in laser wakefield accelerators. Interactions with relatively small focal spots, w0 < λp/2, and with pulse length cτ λp, incur fragmentation into a large number of low power filaments. These filaments are modulated with a density dependent size of, on average, close to λp. The break-up of the driving pulse results in shorter interaction lengths, compared with larger focal spots, and broad energy-spread electron beams, which are not useful for applications. Filamentation of the pulse occurs because the strongly dynamic focusing (small f-number) of the laser prevents pulse length compression before reaching its minimum spot-size, which results in non-spherical focusing gradients.
AB - In the experiments reported here, the filamentation of ultrashort laser pulses, due to non-optimal choice of focusing geometry and/or electron number density, has a severely deleterious effect on monoenergetic electron beam production in laser wakefield accelerators. Interactions with relatively small focal spots, w0 < λp/2, and with pulse length cτ λp, incur fragmentation into a large number of low power filaments. These filaments are modulated with a density dependent size of, on average, close to λp. The break-up of the driving pulse results in shorter interaction lengths, compared with larger focal spots, and broad energy-spread electron beams, which are not useful for applications. Filamentation of the pulse occurs because the strongly dynamic focusing (small f-number) of the laser prevents pulse length compression before reaching its minimum spot-size, which results in non-spherical focusing gradients.
KW - ultrashort pulse filamentation
KW - monoenergetic electron beam production
KW - lwfas
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/51/2/024010
U2 - 10.1088/0741-3335/51/2/024010
DO - 10.1088/0741-3335/51/2/024010
M3 - Article
SN - 0741-3335
VL - 51
JO - Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
JF - Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
IS - 2
ER -