Scaling laws of electron acceleration driven by an intense laser pulse

We studied the scaling laws for slow-electron acceleration driven by an intense laser pulse in a vacuum, the ponderomotive acceleration scenario (PAS) scheme. With 3D test particle simulation by numerically solving the relativistic Lorentz–Newton equation of motion, the maximum electron energy gain was found to be proportional to the laser intensity (a₀), the laser beam width (w₀), and inversely proportional to the laser pulse duration (τ). Theoretical analyses and a physical explanation based on the ponderomotive potential model (PPM) are presented. PACS 42.50.Vk; 41.75.Jv; 42.60.Jf     

强激光锥型靶真空电子加速数值模拟研究

真空激光加速机制具有加速场梯度大、加速电子电量高的优点,目前制约真空加速机制研究发展的主要问题是如何产生具有一定初速度的电子并将其注入加速场。提出了一种利用强激光与锥型靶相互作用产生高能电子并实现真空加速的新方法,利用二维PIC(Particle-in-cell)粒子模拟程序对这一方法进行了研究。模拟结果显示,对于光强为10²¹ W/cm²量级的高斯激光脉冲,产生了能量为GeV量级、发散角约为1°的强流快电子束。此外还通过理论解析和参数模拟研究了靶半径对这种超热电子加速机制的影响。     

激光等离子体稳相加速机制研究

现有激光等离子体加速机制中纵向电场对离子的有效加速长度很短（微米量级）,且束流能散大,得到的离子能量较低.当采用圆偏振激光和固体靶相互作用时,如果激光的归一化光强矢量a与靶的电子面密度n0〖〗ncD〖〗λL相当时,则存在一种稳相加速机制.此时激光和等离子相互作用产生的静电场不仅可以用于加速离子,而且还可以在纵向对离子进行聚束,从而可以有效地降低束流能散.数值模拟结果表明,利用激光加速可以得到能散小于5％的单能离子束,这对激光加速器走向实际应用有着重要意义.     

激光等离子体稳相加速机制研究

现有激光等离子体加速机制中纵向电场对离子的有效加速长度很短(微米量级),且束流能散大,得到的离子能量较低.当采用圆偏振激光和固体靶相互作用时,如果激光的归一化光强矢量α与靶的电子面密度no/nC D/kL相当时,则存在一种稳相加速机制.此时激光和等离子相瓦作用产生的静电场不仅可以用于加速离子,而且还可以在纵向对离子进行聚束,从而可以有效地降低束流能散.数值模拟结果表明,利用激光加速可以得到能散小于5%的单能离子束,这对激光加速器走向实际应用有着重要意义.     

Finite spot effects on radiation pressure acceleration from intense high-contrast laser interactions with thin targets

Short pulse laser interactions at intensities of 2×10(21) W cm(-2) with ultrahigh contrast (10(-15)) on submicrometer silicon nitride foils were studied experimentally by using linear and circular polarizations at normal incidence. It was observed that, as the target decreases in thickness, electron heating by the laser begins to occur for circular polarization leading to target normal sheath acceleration of contaminant ions, while at thicker targets no acceleration or electron heating is observed. For linear polarization, all targets showed exponential energy spreads with similar electron temperatures. Particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate that the heating is due to the rapid deformation of the target that occurs early in the interaction. These experiments demonstrate that finite spot size effects can severely restrict the regime suitable for radiation pressure acceleration.     

Comparison of ion acceleration from ultra-short intense laser interactions with thin foil and small dense target

The comparative efficiency and beam characteristics of high-energy ions generated from the interaction of a petawatt laser pulse with thin foil target and a small solid-density plasma bunch target have been studied by particle-in-cell simulation under identical conditions. It is shown that thin foil and small solid dense target of micrometer size can be efficiently accelerated when irradiated by a laser pulse of intensity >10²¹?W/cm². Using direct beam measurements, we find that small solid dense target acceleration produces higher energy particles with smaller divergence and a higher efficiency compared to thin foil target acceleration. The merits of small solid target acceleration can be exploited for potential applications such as its role as ignitor for fast ignition in inertial confinement fusion.     

Forward acceleration and generation of femtosecond megaelectronvolt electron beams by an ultrafast intense laser pulse

We present a new mechanism of energy gain of electrons accelerated by a laser pulse.It is shown thatwhen the intensity of an ultrafast intense laser pulse decreases rapidly along the direction of propagation,electrons leaving the pulse experience an action of ponderomotivc deceleration at the descending part ofa lower-intensity laser field than acceleration at the ascending part of a high-intensity field, thus gain netenergy from the pulse and move directly forward. By means of such a mechanism, a megaelectronvoltelectron beam with a bunch length shorter than 100 fs could be realized with an ultrafast(≤30 fs),intense (>10~(19)W/cm~2)laser pulse.     

Ion acceleration in a solitary wave by an intense picosecond laser pulse

Acceleration of ions in a solitary wave produced by shock-wave decay in a plasma slab irradiated by an intense picosecond laser pulse is studied via particle-in-cell simulation. Instead of exponential distribution as in known mechanisms of ion acceleration from the target surface, these ions accelerated forwardly form a bunch with relatively low energy spread. The bunch is shown to be a solitary wave moving over expanding plasma; its velocity can exceed the maximal velocity of ions accelerated forward from the rear side of the target.     

Direct spectroscopic observation of multiple-charged-ion acceleration by an intense femtosecond-pulse laser

We have observed evidence of the emission of energetic He-and H-like ions of fluorine more than 1 MeV produced via the optical field ionization (OFI) from a solid target irradiated by an intense I=(2-4)x10(18) W/cm(2) (60 fs, lambda=800 nm), obliquely incident p-polarized pulse laser. The measured blue wing of He(alpha), He(beta), and Ly(alpha) lines of fluorine shows a feature of the Doppler-shifted spectrum due to the self-similar ion expansion dominated by superthermal electrons with the temperature T(h) approximately 100 keV. Using a collisional particle-in-cell simulation, which incorporates the nonlocal-thermodynamic-equilibrium ionization including OFI, we have obtained the plasma temperature, line shape, and maximal energy of accelerated ions, which agree well with those determined from the experimental spectra. The red wing of ion spectra gives the temperature of bulk plasma electrons.     

Cyclotron mechanism of electron acceleration in subpicosecond laser plasma

The effect of ultrastrong magnetic fields generated in a relativistic-intensity subpicosecond laser plasma on the acceleration of fast electrons was studied. It is shown that resonance electrons can continuously accumulate energy from the circularly polarized laser field in the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field. For the linear polarization and a transverse magnetic field, energy accumulation has a pulse-periodic character, and the electron trajectories correspond to electron rotation in the Larmor orbit in a quasi-stationary magnetic field, while the energy strongly oscillates. In both cases, electron energy may attain values higher than 100 MeV for intensities of 10²⁰ W/cm².     

第二讲 激光尾波场加速中的准单能电子束的产生

自从激光尾波场加速电子方案提出以来,经过二十多年的理论和实验研究,人们在激光尾波场加速方面已经取得了重大进步,相继在电子束能量、电子单色性等束流性能上取得重大突破.特别是在2004年对电子束的单色性研究取得重大突破,国际上几个著名实验室相继报道了准单能电子束产生的实验观测,掀起了激光尾波场研究的新高潮.对于准单能电子束的产生机制,虽然尚未达成统一认识,但普遍认为空泡加速可能是其中非常重要的机制之一.文章介绍了激光尾波场的基本概念,着重介绍了单能电子束产生的空泡加速模式里的两个关键物理过程：波破和电子的自捕获,同时介绍国际上相关的一些重要实验结果和理论进展.     

基于激光等离子体加速的自由电子激光研究新进展

激光等离子体加速器能够在cm尺度内产生GeV量级的高品质电子束,为研制台式化自由电子激光提供驱动源。但是受限于激光等离子体加速中的难点和现有技术发展,电子束的品质难以达到自由电子激光的需求,尤其在稳定性、发散角和能散等方面,阻碍了台式化自由电子激光的研制。介绍了基于激光等离子体加速器的自由电子激光的最新进展,整理了目前高增益自由电子激光实验过程中存在的主要挑战和对应的解决方案与实验进展,并展望未来的发展方向。最近的研究结果证明,通过控制和优化激光等离子体加速器的注入和加速过程产生的高品质电子束可以在指数增益区域实现自发辐射放大,产生高增益的辐射,这也推动基于激光等离子体加速器的自由电子激光研究进入了一个新的阶段。     

Backscattering of an intense laser beam by an electron

We present a novel, simple asymptotic expansion for the spectrum of radiation that is backscattered from a laser by a counterpropagating (or copropagating) electron. The solutions are presented in such a way that they explicitly show the relative merit of using an intense laser and of an energetic electron beam in x-ray production in the single particle regime. Simple scaling laws are given.     

Inverse Cerenkov acceleration and inverse free-electron laserexperimental results for staged electron laser acceleration

The goal of the staged electron laser acceleration (STELLA) experiment is to demonstrate staging of the laser acceleration process whereby an inverse free electron laser (IFEL) will be used to prebunch the electrons, which are then accelerated in an inverse Cerenkov accelerator (ICA). As preparation for this experiment, a new permanent magnet wiggler for the IFEL was constructed and the ICA system was modified. Both systems have been tested on a new beamline specifically built for STELLA. The improved electron beam (e-beam) with its very low emittance (0.8 mm-mrad normalized) enabled focusing the e-beam to an average radius (1σ) of 65 μm, within the ICA interaction region. This small e-beam focus greatly enhanced the ICA process and resulted in electron energy spectra that have demonstrated the best agreement to date in both overall shape and magnitude with the model predictions. The electron energy spectrum using the new wiggler in the IFEL was also measured. These results will be described as well as future improvements to the STELLA experiment     

Electronic subband structure in two-dimensional electron gases under intense laser radiations

We present a theoretical study on the influence of intense terahertz (THz) electromagnetic (EM) radiations on the electronic structures in a modulation-doped two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor system. We find that in the presence of a THz EM radiation field polarised linearly along the 2D-plane of a 2D electron gas (2DEG), the electron density of states will be modified strongly by the intensity and the frequency of the radiation field. As a consequence, the Fermi-energy and the electron density in the system will be affected markedly by the EM radiations. The results have indicated that the photon-modified electronic subband structure in a 2DEG device can be observed by using the recently developed free-electron laser sources.     

100-GeV large scale laser plasma electron acceleration by a multi-PW laser

We present three possible design options of laser plasma acceleration (LPA) for reaching a 100-GeV level energy by means of a multi-petawatt laser such as the 3.5-kJ, 500-fs PETawatt Aquitane Laser (PETAL) at French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). Based on scaling of laser wakefield acceleration in the quasi-linear regime with the normalized vector potential a0 =1.4(1.6), acceleration to 100 (130) GeV requires a 30-m-long plasma waveguide operated at the plasma density n e ≈ 7×10 15 cm-3 with a channel depth Δn/ne = 20%, while a nonlinear laser wakefield accelerator in the bubble regime with a0≥2 can reach 100 GeV approximately in a36/a0-m-long plasma through self-guiding. The third option is a hybrid concept that employs a ponderomotive channel created by a long leading pulse for guiding a short trailing driving laser pulse. The detail parameters for three options are evaluated, optimizing the operating plasma density at which a given energy gain is obtained over the dephasing length and the matched conditions for propagation of relativistic laser pulses in plasma channels, including the self-guiding. For the production of high-quality beams with 1%-level energy spread and a 1π-mm-mradlevel transverse normalized emittance at 100-MeV energy, a simple scheme based on the ionization-induced injection mechanism may be conceived. We investigate electron beam dynamics and effects of synchrotron radiation due to betatron motion by solving the beam dynamics equations on energy and beam radius numerically. For the bubble regime case with a0=4, radiative energy loss becomes 10% at the maximum energy of 90 GeV.     

强激光与双锥靶作用加速准单能质子束

提出了一种新型的双锥靶结构用于准单能质子束加速。利用二维PIC粒子模拟程序研究了强激光与双锥靶作用加速产生质子束的物理过程以及质子束品质。双锥靶产生的质子束在峰值能量和发散角度等方面都明显优于相同激光条件下单锥靶和平面靶的结果。尤其与平面靶相比,双锥靶质子束的峰值能量提高了5倍以上,而且很好地保持准单能性。一方面双锥靶的内锥部分是临界密度材料,提高了激光的吸收效率;另一方面双锥靶内形成了更强的准静态磁场,可以约束引导更多的超热电子传输过锥尖,进而增强加速质子束的鞘层电场。     

Successive particle acceleration by use of two tightly focused ultra-short intense laser pulses

We suggest a scheme of electron acceleration by use of two tightly focused ultra-short intense laser pulses at a 100TW level. Electrons obtain a preliminary acceleration with a small angular spread by the longitudinal ponderomotive force of the first pulse. They are then injected and further accelerated to hundreds of MeV by the second laser pulse.