Inverse free electron lasers and laser wakefield acceleration driven by CO2 lasers.
The staged electron laser acceleration (STELLA) experiment demonstrated staging between two laser-driven devices, high trapping efficiency of microbunches within the accelerating field and narrow energy spread during laser acceleration. These are important for practical laser-driven accelerators. STELLA used inverse free electron lasers, which were chosen primarily for convenience. Nevertheless, the STELLA approach can be applied to other laser acceleration methods, in particular, laser-driven plasma accelerators. STELLA is now conducting experiments on laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA). Two novel LWFA approaches are being investigated. In the first one, called pseudo-resonant LWFA, a laser pulse enters a low-density plasma where nonlinear laser/plasma interactions cause the laser pulse shape to steepen, thereby creating strong wakefields. A witness e-beam pulse probes the wakefields. The second one, called seeded self-modulated LWFA, involves sending a seed e-beam pulse into the plasma to initiate wakefield formation. These wakefields are amplified by a laser pulse following shortly after the seed pulse. A second e-beam pulse (witness) follows the seed pulse to probe the wakefields. These LWFA experiments will also be the first ones driven by a CO(2) laser beam.
Kimura
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STI Optronics, Inc. Bellevue, WA 98004-1495, USA. wkimura@stioptronics.com
Andreev
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Babzien
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Ben-Zvi
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I
Cline
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Dilley
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Gottschalk
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Hooker
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Kusche
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Kuznetsov
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Pavlishin
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Pogorelsky
I V
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Pogosova
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Steinhauer
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Ting
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Yakimenko
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Zigler
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Zhou
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