Laser wakefield acceleration with mid-IR laser pulses

Journal article

We report on, to the best of our knowledge, the first results of laser plasma wakefield acceleration driven by ultrashort mid-infrared (IR) laser pulses (𝜆=3.9 μm, 100 fs, 0.25 TW), which enable near- and above-critical density interactions with moderate-density gas jets. Relativistic electron acceleration up to ∼12 MeV occurs when the jet width exceeds the threshold scale length for relativistic self-focusing. We present scaling trends in the accelerated beam profiles, charge, and spectra, which are supported by particle-in-cell simulations and time-resolved images of the interaction. For similarly scaled conditions, we observe significant increases in the accelerated charge, compared to previous experiments with near-infrared (𝜆=800 nm) pulses.

Authors: Woodbury, D; Feder, L; Shumakova, V; Gollner, C; Schwartz, R

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: The Optical Society
• Journal: Optics Letters
• Volume: 43
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1131-1131
• Publication date: 2018-02-28
• DOI: 10.1364/ol.43.001131
• EISSN: 1539-4794
• ISSN: 0146-9592
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR