Mangles, Stuart P. D. and Genoud, G. and Bloom, M. S. and Burza, M. and Najmudin, Zulfikar and Persson, A. and Svensson, K. and Thomas, Alexander George Roy and Wahlstrom, C.-G. (2012) Self-injection threshold in self-guided laser wakefield accelerators. Physical Review Special Topics: Accelerators and Beams, 15: 011302. ISSN 1098-4402
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
A laser pulse traveling through a plasma can excite large amplitude plasma waves that can be used to accelerate relativistic electron beams in a very short distance—a technique called laser wakefield acceleration. Many wakefield acceleration experiments rely on the process of wave breaking, or self-injection, to inject electrons into the wave, while other injection techniques rely on operation without self-injection. We present an experimental study into the parameters, including the pulse energy, focal spot quality, and pulse power, that determine whether or not a wakefield accelerator will self-inject. By taking into account the processes of self-focusing and pulse compression we are able to extend a previously described theoretical model, where the minimum bubble size k p r b required for trapping is not constant but varies slowly with density and find excellent agreement with this model.