title: Shock-front injector for high-quality laser-plasma acceleration.
abstract: We report the generation of stable and tunable electron bunches with very low absolute energy spread (ΔE ≈ 5 MeV) accelerated in laser wakefields via injection and trapping at a sharp downward density jump produced by a shock front in a supersonic gas flow. The peak of the highly stable and reproducible electron energy spectrum was tuned over more than 1 order of magnitude, containing a charge of 1-100 pC and a charge per energy interval of more than 10 pC/MeV. Laser-plasma electron acceleration with Ti:sapphire lasers using this novel injection mechanism provides high-quality electron bunches tailored for applications.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Insitut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buck
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wenz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Khrennikov
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heigoldt
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Mikhailova
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Geissler
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Krausz
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karsch
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Veisz