title: Multi-GeV electron beams from capillary-discharge-guided subpetawatt laser pulses in the self-trapping regime.
abstract: Multi-GeV electron beams with energy up to 4.2 GeV, 6% rms energy spread, 6 pC charge, and 0.3 mrad rms divergence have been produced from a 9-cm-long capillary discharge waveguide with a plasma density of ≈7×10¹⁷ cm⁻³, powered by laser pulses with peak power up to 0.3 PW. Preformed plasma waveguides allow the use of lower laser power compared to unguided plasma structures to achieve the same electron beam energy. A detailed comparison between experiment and simulation indicates the sensitivity in this regime of the guiding and acceleration in the plasma structure to input intensity, density, and near-field laser mode profile.
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA and Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Leemans
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Gonsalves
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: H-S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Benedetti
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: C B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Schroeder
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Cs
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tóth
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Daniels
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA and Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Mittelberger
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA and Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Bulanov
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: J-L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Vay
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: C G R
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Geddes
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Esarey