高品质激光尾波场电子加速器

激光尾波场电子加速的加速梯度相比于传统直线加速器高了3—4个量级,对于小型化粒子加速器与辐射源的研制具有重要的意义,成为当今国内外的研究热点.台式化辐射源应用需求的提高,特别是自由电子激光装置的快速发展,对电子束流品质提出了更高的要求,激光尾波场电子加速的束流品质和稳定性是目前实现新型辐射源的首要障碍.本文归纳整理了中国科学院上海光学精密机械研究所电子加速研究团队十年来在研制台式化激光尾波场电子加速器过程中采取的方案和取得的进展.例如率先提出了注入级和加速级分离的级联加速方案,通过实验获得了GeV量级的电子束能量;基于级联加速方式利用能量啁啾控制,实验获得世界最高品质的电子束流;通过优化激光系统稳定性和特殊的气体喷流结构,获得稳定的高品质电子束流输出等.这一系列实验结果有利于进一步推进激光尾波场电子加速器的应用.     

Demonstration of a narrow energy spread, ∼0.5 GeV electron beam from a two-stage laser wakefield accelerator

Laser wakefield acceleration of electrons holds great promise for producing ultracompact stages of GeV scale, high-quality electron beams for applications such as x-ray free electron lasers and high-energy colliders. Ultrahigh intensity laser pulses can be self-guided by relativistic plasma waves (the wake) over tens of vacuum diffraction lengths, to give >1 GeV energy in centimeter-scale low density plasmas using ionization-induced injection to inject charge into the wake even at low densities. By restricting electron injection to a distinct short region, the injector stage, energetic electron beams (of the order of 100 MeV) with a relatively large energy spread are generated. Some of these electrons are then further accelerated by a second, longer accelerator stage, which increases their energy to ～0.5 GeV while reducing the relative energy spread to <5% FWHM.     

锐真空-等离子体边界倾角对激光尾波场加速中电子注入的影响

超短超强激光脉冲在气体等离子体中激发的尾波场加速在过去40年里有了长足的发展,人们已经在厘米加速距离内获得了数GeV的准单能电子加速,激光尾波加速的最高电子能量已经达到8 GeV.为了进一步提升加速电子束的稳定性和品质,多种电子注入方式先后被提出.本文研究了基于锐真空-等离子体边界面的密度跃变注入,着重讨论了不同角度的倾斜边界面对注入电子品质的影响.二维粒子模拟研究表明,与倾角为0°的垂直边界面相比,在合适的倾斜边界角下,第二个尾波空泡内产生的注入电量可以有近三倍的提升,同时偏振方向与入射面平行的驱动激光可以增加第一个空泡内注入电子的电量.根据不同激光入射角度时尾波场中电子自注入的起始位置差异,分析了电子电量与横向振荡增强的原因.这些研究有利于提升基于Betatron运动的尾波场辐射及其应用.     

All-optical cascaded laser wakefield accelerator using ionization-induced injection

We report on near-GeV electron beam generation from an all-optical cascaded laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA). Electron injection and acceleration are successfully separated and controlled in different LWFA stages by employing two gas cells filled with a He/O2 mixture and pure He gas, respectively. Electrons with a Maxwellian spectrum, generated from the first LWFA assisted by ionization-induced injection, were seeded into the second LWFA with a 3-mm-thick gas cell and accelerated to be a 0.8-GeV quasimonoenergetic electron beam, corresponding to an acceleration gradient of 187 GV/m. The demonstrated scheme paves the way towards the multi-GeV laser accelerators.     

基于激光尾波加速的涡轮叶片高能X射线CT

发展微焦点高能X射线源技术是实现高精度高能工业CT突破的关键,基于激光尾波加速驱动高能轫致辐射源开展了微焦点高能X射线源产生以及对涡轮叶片高能CT成像研究。利用一台20 TW钛蓝宝石超快超强激光器,通过电离注入的方式获得了（140±44）pC的高能电子束,并使用1.5 mm厚钨靶产生了累积源尺寸为25 μm的高能轫致辐射X射线。利用该微焦点高能X射线源,采用基于压缩感知的CT重建算法,在获取较少角度投影（31个角度）的情况下,获得了对涡轮叶片叶榫结构的CT重建。

     

激光尾波场驱动准连续小角度电子束研究进展

报道了在北京大学新建成的5 Hz 200 TW飞秒激光加速器实验装置上利用68 TW(1.7 J,25 fs)的激光与混合气体(99%He掺杂1%N_2)进行激光电子加速的初步实验结果与理论分析.在实验中观测到了最大截止能量为290 MeV的连续电子能谱,并且最大输出能量在一定的聚焦范围内基本不变.二维particle-in-cell模拟表明:电离注入导致电子不断注入,使得纵向相空间在激光传播几个毫米后基本被电子填满;之后相空间中电子分布基本保持稳定,随着激光传播距离的增加,输出电子最大能量几乎不变,这与实验观察到的最大输出能量随激光聚焦位置在一定范围内不变的现象一致.实验与模拟结果揭示了在当前实验条件下连续电离注入对电子束品质的影响,为今后进一步优化电离注入电子品质提供了依据.     

Magnetic control of particle injection in plasma based accelerators

The use of an external transverse magnetic field to trigger and to control electron self-injection in laser- and particle-beam driven wakefield accelerators is examined analytically and through full-scale particle-in-cell simulations. A magnetic field can relax the injection threshold and can be used to control main output beam features such as charge, energy, and transverse dynamics in the ion channel associated with the plasma blowout. It is shown that this mechanism could be studied using state-of-the-art magnetic fields in next generation plasma accelerator experiments.     

Laser wakefield acceleration of short electron bunches

The theory of electron acceleration in a plasma wake wave is developed, and the dependence of the main characteristics of accelerated electron bunches on the wakefield parameters is investigated, It is shown that using a prebunching stage, under proper conditions, the final electron density of a compressed and accelerated bunch can exceed the initial electron beam density by orders of magnitude and that longitudinal bunch compression provides quasi-monoenergetic acceleration to high energies, It is demonstrated that, for an initial electron beam radius smaller than the optimal one for efficient beam trapping, the energy spread of the compressed and accelerated electron bunch and its length can be evaluated by using the simple analytical predictions of a one-dimensional (1-D) theory. The obtained analytical results are confirmed by three-dimensional (3-D) numerical modeling     

双束等离子体尾波加速中的束流相对能散预测

针对空泡机制中的双束等离子体尾波电子加速设计,给出了能够快速得到被加速束流在最大加速距离下的相对能散的预测公式。通过加速初始时刻束流纵向分布以及束流所处位置的纵向尾波场可得到束流最终相对能散。该预测公式不仅可应用于驱动束流与被加速束流初始能量相同的情况,还可应用于两个束流初始能量不相同的情况。由该预测公式得到的束流相对能散与被加速束流和驱动束流的初始能量的比值有关,而与两个束流初始能量的数值无关。利用准静态近似的粒子网格模拟程序QuickPIC对理论进行了模拟验证,模拟结果与理论预期结果一致。     

强激光脉冲在部分离化等离子体中的传播特性

采用变分法给出了强激光脉冲在部分离化等离子体中传播的参数演化方程,其中考虑了相对论自聚焦、有质动力激发尾波场以及部分离化非线性极化强度的影响。通过非线性动力学分析的方法,得到了强激光脉冲以恒定焦斑半径传播时的激光、等离子体参数匹配条件。研究表明：在部分离化等离子体中,激光自聚焦随着电离程度的增大而增强;有质动力激发的尾波场进一步增强激光脉冲的自聚焦;相对于等离子体密度而言,激光强度对激光脉冲的自聚焦更有影响。     

强激光脉冲在部分离化等离子体中的传播特性

采用变分法给出了强激光脉冲在部分离化等离子体中传播的参数演化方程,其中考虑了相对论自聚焦、有质动力激发尾波场以及部分离化非线性极化强度的影响。通过非线性动力学分析的方法,得到了强激光脉冲以恒定焦斑半径传播时的激光、等离子体参数匹配条件。研究表明:在部分离化等离子体中,激光自聚焦随着电离程度的增大而增强;有质动力激发的尾波场进一步增强激光脉冲的自聚焦;相对于等离子体密度而言,激光强度对激光脉冲的自聚焦更有影响。     

基于激光尾场加速的自反射式全光汤姆孙散射的参数优化

基于激光尾场加速的全光汤姆孙散射能够提供高质量X射线束并大大减小装置的尺寸.与分光式相比,自反射式的构架可以降低实验的时空同步难度,但是由于激光尾场电子加速和汤姆孙散射过程耦合, X射线优化难度大,目前缺乏参数优化的相关报道.本文用数值模拟修正解析理论的方法,定量分析了激光尾场电子加速和汤姆孙散射过程中激光和电子束的焦斑、脉宽、能量等参数变化情况,并给出了激光在等离子体镜上的反射率,从而实现了用解析公式计算而非数值模拟跟踪参数变化,在保证精度的同时节约了计算时间.另外,利用修正后的公式优化了给定激光条件下的自反射式全光汤姆孙散射X射线,通过改变等离子体密度和等离子体镜位置这两个参数给出了最优X射线亮度和光子产额,该方法为将来结合人工智能优化控制全光汤姆孙散射光源提供了理论基础.     

Transverse modulation of an electron beam generated in self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator experiments

Low energy electron beams (E approximately 300 keV) generated in a self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator experiment were observed to filament and be deflected away from the laser axis forming radial jets in the electron beam profile. At higher energies (E>900 keV), the filamentation and jets were suppressed and smooth electron beams copropagating with the laser were observed. The observed electron beam filamentation likely results from laser beam filamentation in the plasma due to relativistic self-focusing effects. The radial jets of low energy electrons are likely caused by transverse ejection of the electrons due to the radial structure of the wakefield and space charge deflection of electrons as they exit the laser focus.     

Generation of trains of electron microbunches with adjustable subpicosecond spacing

We demonstrate that trains of subpicosecond electron microbunches, with subpicosecond spacing, can be produced by placing a mask in a region of the beam line where the beam transverse size is dominated by the correlated energy spread. We show that the number, length, and spacing of the microbunches can be controlled through the parameters of the beam and the mask. Such microbunch trains can be further compressed and accelerated and have applications to free electron lasers and plasma wakefield accelerators.     

Wakefield Effects on the BEPCII Injector Linac

The high current and short bunch of the electron beam in the BEPCII injector linac cause the wakefield effects on the beam performance dilution. These wakefield effects on longitudinal and transverse beam dynamics are systematically studied with analysis and numerical beam modeling, including the single bunch short-range wake effects and the multi-bunch long-range wake effects on beam energy, energy spread, emittance, orbit offset and primary electron beam spot size on the positron production target. The measures to effectively cure these wake effects are also studied.     

BEPCII直线注入器的尾场效应

BEPCII直线注入器中的强流、短束团的尾场效应将损害束流的性能.用分析解和数值模拟计算的方法,系统地研究了尾场对纵向和径向束流动力学的影响,包括单束团的短程尾场和多束团的长程尾场对束流能量、能散、发射度、轨道和初级电子束在正电子产生靶上束斑尺寸的影响等.研究了有效抑制这些尾场效应的措施     

Stability of the Driving Bunch in the Plasma Wakefield Accelerator

We investigate the stability of the driving electron or positron beam in the plasma wakefield accelerator (PWFA). Although the beam is subject to self-focusing, filamentation, and two-stream instability, we find that all of these can be stabilized by introducing thermal energy and an axial magnetic field.     

Nonlinear Plasma Dynanics in the Plasma Wakefield Accelerator

Excitation of nonlinear plasma oscillations by an ultrarelativistic electron beam is considered in this paper. It is shown, by analytical solutions of the fully relativistic nonlinear fluid equations in one dimension, that under certain conditions on the relative densities of the electron beam and the plasma, extremely large longitudinal electric fields can be generated in the wake of the beam. This scheme can be considered as a nonlinear regime of the plasma wakefield accelerator (PWFA), and is seen to have the advantage that the transformer ratio, the ratio of the maximum amplitude of the accelerating field behind the driving beam over the maximum amplitude of the decelerating field inside of the beam, can be made arbitrarily large, dependent only on the length of the driving beam. The effects of beam loading on the efficiency of this scheme are considered, and are shown to be equivalent to those predicted in the linear regime.     

Plasma-wakefield acceleration of an intense positron beam

Plasma wakefields are both excited and probed by propagating an intense 28.5 GeV positron beam through a 1.4 m long lithium plasma. The main body of the beam loses energy in exciting this wakefield while positrons in the back of the same beam can be accelerated by the same wakefield as it changes sign. The scaling of energy loss with plasma density as well as the energy gain seen at the highest plasma density is in excellent agreement with simulations.     

Beam loading in the nonlinear regime of plasma-based acceleration

A theory that describes how to load negative charge into a nonlinear, three-dimensional plasma wakefield is presented. In this regime, a laser or an electron beam blows out the plasma electrons and creates a nearly spherical ion channel, which is modified by the presence of the beam load. Analytical solutions for the fields and the shape of the ion channel are derived. It is shown that very high beam-loading efficiency can be achieved, while the energy spread of the bunch is conserved. The theoretical results are verified with the particle-in-cell code OSIRIS.