title: Single-shot visualization of evolving laser wakefields using an all-optical streak camera.
abstract: We visualize ps-time-scale evolution of an electron density bubble--a wake structure created in atmospheric density plasma by an intense ultrashort laser pulse--from the phase "streak" that the bubble imprints onto a probe pulse that crosses its path obliquely. Phase streaks, recovered in one shot using frequency-domain interferometric techniques, reveal the formation, propagation, and coalescence of the bubble within a 3 mm long ionized helium gas target. 3D particle-in-cell simulations validate the observed density-dependent bubble evolution, and correlate it with the generation of a quasimonoenergetic ∼ 100 MeV electron beam. The results provide a basis for understanding optimized electron acceleration at a plasma density n(e) ≈ 2 × 10(19) cm(-3), inefficient acceleration at lower density, and dephasing limits at higher density.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA.
authors.forename: Zhengyan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA.
authors.forename: Hai-En
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA.
authors.forename: Chih-Hao
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Pai
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA.
authors.forename: Yen-Yu
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA.
authors.forename: Rafal
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zgadzaj
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Khudik
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shvets
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Downer