Laser-driven electron beam and radiation sources for basic,medical and industrial sciences

To date active research on laser-driven plasma-based accelerators have achieved great progress on production of high-energy, high-quality electron and photon beams in a compact scale. Such laser plasma accelerators have been envisaged bringing a wide range of applications in basic, medical and industrial sciences. Here inheriting the groundbreaker’s review article on “Laser Acceleration and its future” [Toshiki Tajima, (2010)],¹⁾ we would like to review recent progress of producing such electron beams due to relativistic laser-plasma interactions followed by laser wakefield acceleration and lead to the scaling formulas that are useful to design laser plasma accelerators with controllability of beam energy and charge. Lastly specific examples of such laser-driven electron/photon beam sources are illustrated.     

激光等离子体尾波加速器的发展和展望

超强激光在气体等离子体中传输时可以激发出大振幅的电子等离子体尾波。激光等离子体尾波加速器是利用该尾波对带电粒子（特别是电子和正电子）进行加速的一种新型装置。由于其加速梯度相较于现有的常规加速器可以提升1000倍,为建造超紧凑型的加速器和辐射源奠定了基础,也为将来建造基于等离子体的超高能正负电子对撞机和自由电子激光装置提供了可能。对该新型加速器的原理、特点、发展历程,尤其是近十年来的主要进展和未来发展趋势及面临的主要挑战进行简要梳理和介绍。     

Laser electron acceleration beyond 100 GeV

Nowadays there is great progress on laser-driven plasma-based accelerators by exploiting petawatt-class lasers, where for one aspect electron beams can be accelerated to multi-GeV energy in a centimeter-scale plasma due to laser wakefield acceleration mechanism. While to date, worldwide researches on laser-plasma accelerators are focused to create compact particle and radiation sources for applications in a wide range of sciences, including basic, medical and industrial sciences, there are great interests in applications for high energy physics and astrophysics that explore unprecedented high-energy frontier phenomena, for which laser plasma accelerator concepts provide us with promising tools. Here, our endeavors toward “extreme light” in the IZEST are envisaged for the next 30 years perspective and issues on laser plasma electron acceleration beyond 100 GeV and furthermore toward the TeV regime, aiming at high energy physics applications.     

Micro-bunch production with radio frequency photoinjectors

In this paper we discuss the generation of ultra-short electron bunches using laser-driven RF guns. The designs are tailored for future plasma accelerators. Second generation plasma accelerators are expected to be very demanding in terms of bunch length, since the accelerated beam is expected to be short with respect to the wavelength of the excited Langmuir space-charge plasma wave. Since the anticipated wavelength ranges from 100 to 300 μm, 10-50 μm-long bunches are required with a bunch population of the order of 10⁸ particles. The laser-driven RF gun is a promising candidate to attain such beams. The rationale for this choice as well as the main limitations in terms of minimum bunch length will be analyzed and discussed in the following. Two possible configurations are evaluated: the direct production at the photocathode surface of ultra-short electron bunches by illumination of the cathode with 160-fs-long laser pulses and the acceleration of a 1-ps electron bunch with further magnetic compression in a wiggler     

实时单发测量的汤姆逊离子谱仪

介绍一种使用闪烁体耦合电子倍增电荷耦合器件(EMCCD)的方式对离子进行记录的汤姆逊能谱仪,可实现对离子能谱的实时单发测量。同时,该谱仪利用倾斜电极板对离子进行偏转,可减少由于离子打在电极板上产生的电磁噪声,能够提高实验结果的信噪比。该谱仪在北京大学4.5 MV静电加速器和2×6MV串列加速器上进行了标定实验,测量了闪烁体将离子转化成光子后的探测效率,实验结果也验证了该谱仪的可行性和稳定性。该汤姆逊谱仪将用于北京大学激光加速器CLAPA对离子束流的测量研究。     

High energy gain of trapped electrons in a tapered, diffraction-dominated inverse-free-electron laser

Energy gain of trapped electrons in excess of 20 MeV has been demonstrated in an inverse-free-electron-laser (IFEL) accelerator experiment. A 14.5 MeV electron beam is copropagated with a 400 GW CO2 laser beam in a 50 cm long undulator strongly tapered in period and field amplitude. The Rayleigh range of the laser, approximately 1.8 cm, is much shorter than the undulator length yielding a diffraction-dominated interaction. Experimental results on the dependence of the acceleration on injection energy, laser focus position, and laser power are discussed. Simulations, in good agreement with the experimental data, show that most of the energy gain occurs in the first half of the undulator at a gradient of 70 MeV/m and that the structure in the measured energy spectrum arises because of higher harmonic IFEL interaction in the second half of the undulator.     

Electron acceleration in the inverse free electron laser with a helical wiggler by axial magnetic field and ion-channel guiding

Electron acceleration in the inverse free electron laser (IFEL) with a helical wiggler in the presence of ion-channel guiding and axial magnetic field is investigated in this article. The effects of tapering wiggler amplitude and axial magnetic field are calculated for the electron acceleration. In free electron lasers, electron beams lose energy through radiation while in IFEL electron beams gain energy from the laser. The equation of electron motion and the equation of energy exchange between a single electron and electromagnetic waves are derived and then solved numerically using the fourth order Runge-Kutta method. The tapering effects of a wiggler magnetic field on electron acceleration are investigated and the results show that the electron acceleration increases in the case of a tapered wiggler magnetic field with a proper taper constant.     

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     

Ultra-fast x-ray-dynamic experimental subsystem

Ultra-fast x-ray-dynamic experimental subsystem is a facility which can provide femtosecond hard x-ray sources using a femtosecond laser interacting with plasmas. By utilizing these ultra-fast x-rays as a probe, combined with a naturally synchronized driver laser as a pump, we can perform dynamic studies on samples with a femtosecond time resolution.This subsystem with a four-dimensional ultra-high spatiotemporal resolution is a powerful tool for studies of the process of photosynthesis, Auger electron effects, lattice vibrations, etc. Compared with conventional x-ray sources based on accelerators, this table-top laser-driven x-ray source has significant advantages in terms of the source size, pulse duration,brightness, flexibility, and economy. It is an effective supplement to the synchrotron light source in the ultrafast detection regime.     

Ultrahigh harmonics from laser-assisted ion-atom collisions

We present a theoretical analysis of high-order harmonic generation from ion-atom collisions in the presence of linearly polarized intense laser pulses. Photons with frequencies significantly higher than in standard atomic high-harmonic generation are emitted. These harmonics are due to two different mechanisms: (i) collisional electron capture and subsequent laser-driven transfer of an electron between projectile and target atom; (ii) reflection of a laser-driven electron from the projectile leading to recombination at the parent atom.     

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.     

Laser-driven generation of fast particles

The great progress in high-peak-power laser technology has resulted recently in the production of ps and subps laser pulses of PW powers and relativistic intensities (up to 10²¹ W/cm²) and has laid the basis for the construction of multi-PW lasers generating ultrarelativistic laser intensities (above 10²³ W/cm²). The laser pulses of such extreme parameters make it possible to produce highly collimated beams of electrons or ions of MeV to GeV energies, of short time durations (down to subps) and of enormous currents and current densities, unattainable with conventional accelerators. Such particle beams have a potential to be applied in numerous fields of scientific research as well as in medicine and technology development. This paper is focused on laser-driven generation of fast ion beams and reviews recent progress in this field. The basic concepts and achievements in the generation of intense beams of protons, light ions, and multiply charged heavy ions are presented. Prospects for applications of laser-driven ion beams are briefly discussed.     

Self-Injection and Acceleration of Monoenergetic Electron Beams from Laser Wakefield Accelerators in a Highly Relativistic Regime

Self-injection and acceleration of monoenergetic electron beams from laser wakefield accelerators are first investigated in the highly relativistic regime, using 100 TW class, 27 fs laser pulses. Quasi-monoenergetic multi- bunched beams with energies as high as multi-hundredMeV are observed with simultaneous measurements of side-scattering emissions that indicate the formation of self-channelfing and self-injection of electrons into a plasma wake, referred to as a ＇bubble＇. The three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations confirmed multiple self-injection of electron bunches into the bubble and their beam acceleration with gradient of 1.5 GeV/cm.     

短脉冲强激光驱动磁重联过程的靶后电势分布特征

超短超强激光因其极端的物理参数范围以及可用于研究相对论等离子体等特征,成为当前激光驱动磁重联物理的研究热点.通常采用两路激光与平面靶相互作用实现激光驱动磁重联,然而在实验诊断中,由于激光等离子体自身的复杂性导致很难辨别磁重联的物理特征.本文对两路短脉冲激光驱动平面靶磁重联进行了数值模拟,重点分析了靶后电势分布特征和磁重联之间的关系.模拟结果显示,靶后电势分布可以直接影响被加速离子在探测面上的空间分布,因此可用来直接诊断短脉冲激光驱动磁重联实验.     

Approaches for ultrafast imaging of transient materials processes in the transmission electron microscope

The growing field of ultrafast materials science, aimed at exploring short-lived transient processes in materials on the microsecond to femtosecond timescales, has spawned the development of time-resolved, in situ techniques in electron microscopy capable of capturing these events. This article gives a brief overview of two principal approaches that have emerged in the past decade: the stroboscopic ultrafast electron microscope and the nanosecond-time-resolved single-shot instrument. The high time resolution is garnered through the use of advanced pulsed laser systems and a pump-probe experimental platforms using laser-driven photoemission processes to generate time-correlated electron probe pulses synchronized with laser-driven events in the specimen. Each technique has its advantages and limitations and thus is complementary in terms of the materials systems and processes that they can investigate. The stroboscopic approach can achieve atomic resolution and sub-picosecond time resolution for capturing transient events, though it is limited to highly repeatable (>10(6) cycles) materials processes, e.g., optically driven electronic phase transitions that must reset to the material's ground state within the repetition rate of the femtosecond laser. The single-shot approach can explore irreversible events in materials, but the spatial resolution is limited by electron source brightness and electron-electron interactions at nanosecond temporal resolutions and higher. The first part of the article will explain basic operating principles of the stroboscopic approach and briefly review recent applications of this technique. As the authors have pursued the development of the single-shot approach, the latter part of the review discusses its instrumentation design in detail and presents examples of materials science studies and the near-term instrumentation developments of this technique.     

High-harmonic inverse-free-electron-laser interaction at 800 nm

We present the first direct observation of a higher-order inverse-free-electron-laser (IFEL) interaction. Interaction at the fourth, fifth, and sixth harmonics is observed from an IFEL operating at 800 nm. The harmonic spacing, relative harmonic strength, and transverse beam overlap of the interaction are all in good agreement with tracking simulations.     

Study of the Z-Pinch Plasma Initiated by the Electron Beam

A lot of activities are carried out to develop compact laser accelerators. The transportation and focusing of beams in Z-pinch-type discharges, which requires thorough investigations into methods for the formation of these discharges, are important problems to be solved. At the ITEP, an experimental setup [1] is constructed to study Z-pinch plasma dynamics when the discharge is initiated by an electron beam. The first results of the experimental and numerical investigations show that development of the discharge initiated by an electron beam differs considerably from the ordinary Z-pinch formation process.     

Thomson backscattering X-rays from ultra-relativistic electron bunches and temporally shaped laser pulses

The process of Thomson scattering of an ultra-intense laser pulse by a relativistic electron bunch has been proposed as a way to obtain a bright source of short, tunable and quasi-monochromatic X-ray pulses. The real applicability of such a method depends crucially on the electron-beam quality, the angular and energetic distributions playing a relevant role. In this paper we present the computation of the Thomson-scattered radiation generated by a plane-wave, linearly polarized and flat-top laser pulse, incident on a counterpropagating electron bunch having a sizable angular divergence and a generic energy distribution. Both linear and nonlinear Thomson-scattering regimes are considered and the impact of the rising front of the pulse on the scattered-radiation distribution has been taken into account. Simplified relations valid for long laser pulses and small values of both scattering angle and bunch divergence are also reported. Finally, we apply the results to the cases of backscattering with electron bunches typically produced with both standard radio-frequency-based accelerators and laser–plasma accelerators.     

Observation of the second harmonic in Thomson scattering from relativistic electrons

A free relativistic electron in an electromagnetic field is a pure case of a light-matter interaction. In the laboratory environment, this interaction can be realized by colliding laser pulses with electron beams produced from particle accelerators. The process of single photon absorption and reemission by the electron, so-called linear Thomson scattering, results in radiation that is Doppler shifted into the x-ray and gamma-ray regions. At elevated laser intensity, nonlinear effects should come into play when the transverse motion of the electrons induced by the laser beam is relativistic. In the present experiment, we achieved this condition and characterized the second harmonic of Thomson x-ray scattering using the counterpropagation of a 60 MeV electron beam and a subterawatt CO2 laser beam.     

Quantum radiation reaction effects in multiphoton Compton scattering

Radiation reaction effects in the interaction of an electron and a strong laser field are investigated in the realm of quantum electrodynamics. We identify the quantum radiation reaction with the multiple photon recoils experienced by the laser-driven electron due to consecutive incoherent photon emissions. After determining a quantum radiation dominated regime, we demonstrate how in this regime quantum signatures of the radiation reaction strongly affect multiphoton Compton scattering spectra and that they could be measurable in principle with presently available laser technology.