Near-GeV acceleration of electrons by a nonlinear plasma wave driven by a self-guided laser pulse.
The acceleration of electrons to approximately 0.8 GeV has been observed in a self-injecting laser wakefield accelerator driven at a plasma density of 5.5x10(18) cm(-3) by a 10 J, 55 fs, 800 nm laser pulse in the blowout regime. The laser pulse is found to be self-guided for 1 cm (>10zR), by measurement of a single filament containing >30% of the initial laser energy at this distance. Three-dimensional particle in cell simulations show that the intensity within the guided filament is amplified beyond its initial focused value to a normalized vector potential of a0>6, thus driving a highly nonlinear plasma wave.
Kneip
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The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2BZ, United Kingdom.
Nagel
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Martins
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Mangles
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Bellei
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Chekhlov
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Clarke
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Delerue
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Divall
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Doucas
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Ertel
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Fiuza
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Fonseca
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Foster
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Hooker
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Krushelnick
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Palmer
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Schreiber
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Streeter
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Urner
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Vieira
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Silva
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Najmudin
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