Observation of strong correlation between quasimonoenergetic electron beam generation by laser wakefield and laser guiding inside a preplasma cavity.
We use a one-shot measurement technique to study effects of laser prepulses on the electron laser wakefield acceleration driven by relativistically intense laser pulses (lambda=790 nm, 11 TW, 37 fs) in dense helium gas jets. A quasimonoenergetic electron bunch with an energy peak approximately 11.5 MeV[DeltaE/E approximately 10% (FWHM)] and with a narrow-cone angle (0.04pi mm mrad) of ejection is detected at a plasma density of 8 x 10(19) cm(-3). A strong correlation between the generation of monoenergetic electrons and optical guiding of the pulse in a thin channel produced by picosecond laser prepulses is observed. This generation mechanism is well corroborated by two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.
Hosokai
Tomonao
T
Nuclear Professional School, Graduate School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, 22-2 Shirane-shirakata, Tokai, Naka, Ibaraki 319-1188, Japan. hosokai@tokai.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Kinoshita
Kenichi
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Ohkubo
Takeru
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Maekawa
Akira
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Uesaka
Mitsuru
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Zhidkov
Alexei
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Yamazaki
Atsushi
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Kotaki
Hideyuki
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Kando
Masaki
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Nakajima
Kazuhisa
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Bulanov
Sergei V
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Tomassini
Paolo
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Giulietti
Antonio
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Giulietti
Danilo
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