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

Journal article

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. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.

Authors: Karsch, S; Osterhoff, J; Popp, A; Rowlands-Rees, T; Major, Z

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 11
• Pages: 415-415
• Publication date: 2007-11-21
• DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/9/11/415
• EISSN: 1367-2630
• ISSN: 1367-2630
• Language: English