Optically controlled laser–plasma electron accelerator for compact gamma-ray sources
Generating quasi-monochromatic, femtosecond γ -ray pulses via Thomson scattering (TS) demands exceptional electron beam (e-beam) quality, such as percent-scale energy spread and five-dimensional brightness over 10 ^16 A m ^–2 . We show that near-GeV e-beams with these metrics can be accelerated in a...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2018-01-01
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| Series: | New Journal of Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aaad57 |
| _version_ | 1797750648323702784 |
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| author | S Y Kalmykov X Davoine I Ghebregziabher B A Shadwick |
| author_facet | S Y Kalmykov X Davoine I Ghebregziabher B A Shadwick |
| author_sort | S Y Kalmykov |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Generating quasi-monochromatic, femtosecond γ -ray pulses via Thomson scattering (TS) demands exceptional electron beam (e-beam) quality, such as percent-scale energy spread and five-dimensional brightness over 10 ^16 A m ^–2 . We show that near-GeV e-beams with these metrics can be accelerated in a cavity of electron density, driven with an incoherent stack of Joule-scale laser pulses through a mm-size, dense plasma ( n _0 ∼ 10 ^19 cm ^−3 ). Changing the time delay, frequency difference, and energy ratio of the stack components controls the e-beam phase space on the femtosecond scale, while the modest energy of the optical driver helps afford kHz-scale repetition rate at manageable average power. Blue-shifting one stack component by a considerable fraction of the carrier frequency makes the stack immune to self-compression. This, in turn, minimizes uncontrolled variation in the cavity shape, suppressing continuous injection of ambient plasma electrons, preserving a single, ultra-bright electron bunch. In addition, weak focusing of the trailing component of the stack induces periodic injection, generating, in a single shot, a train of bunches with controllable energy spacing and femtosecond synchronization. These designer e-beams, inaccessible to conventional acceleration methods, generate, via TS, gigawatt γ -ray pulses (or multi-color pulse trains) with the mean energy in the range of interest for nuclear photonics (4–16 MeV), containing over 10 ^6 photons within a microsteradian-scale observation cone. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:36:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ce29f7a1337c4202bc364ec95b29c4de |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1367-2630 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:36:50Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | New Journal of Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-ce29f7a1337c4202bc364ec95b29c4de2023-08-08T14:52:11ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302018-01-0120202304710.1088/1367-2630/aaad57Optically controlled laser–plasma electron accelerator for compact gamma-ray sourcesS Y Kalmykov0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0946-857XX Davoine1I Ghebregziabher2B A Shadwick3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska–Lincoln , Lincoln, NE 68588-0299, United States of AmericaCEA, DAM, DIF, F-91297 Arpajon, FranceThe Pennsylvania State University , Hazleton, PA 18202, United States of AmericaDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska–Lincoln , Lincoln, NE 68588-0299, United States of AmericaGenerating quasi-monochromatic, femtosecond γ -ray pulses via Thomson scattering (TS) demands exceptional electron beam (e-beam) quality, such as percent-scale energy spread and five-dimensional brightness over 10 ^16 A m ^–2 . We show that near-GeV e-beams with these metrics can be accelerated in a cavity of electron density, driven with an incoherent stack of Joule-scale laser pulses through a mm-size, dense plasma ( n _0 ∼ 10 ^19 cm ^−3 ). Changing the time delay, frequency difference, and energy ratio of the stack components controls the e-beam phase space on the femtosecond scale, while the modest energy of the optical driver helps afford kHz-scale repetition rate at manageable average power. Blue-shifting one stack component by a considerable fraction of the carrier frequency makes the stack immune to self-compression. This, in turn, minimizes uncontrolled variation in the cavity shape, suppressing continuous injection of ambient plasma electrons, preserving a single, ultra-bright electron bunch. In addition, weak focusing of the trailing component of the stack induces periodic injection, generating, in a single shot, a train of bunches with controllable energy spacing and femtosecond synchronization. These designer e-beams, inaccessible to conventional acceleration methods, generate, via TS, gigawatt γ -ray pulses (or multi-color pulse trains) with the mean energy in the range of interest for nuclear photonics (4–16 MeV), containing over 10 ^6 photons within a microsteradian-scale observation cone.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aaad57laser wakefield acceleratorblowoutoptical control of injectioncomb-like electron beamspulse stackingnegative chirp |
| spellingShingle | S Y Kalmykov X Davoine I Ghebregziabher B A Shadwick Optically controlled laser–plasma electron accelerator for compact gamma-ray sources New Journal of Physics laser wakefield accelerator blowout optical control of injection comb-like electron beams pulse stacking negative chirp |
| title | Optically controlled laser–plasma electron accelerator for compact gamma-ray sources |
| title_full | Optically controlled laser–plasma electron accelerator for compact gamma-ray sources |
| title_fullStr | Optically controlled laser–plasma electron accelerator for compact gamma-ray sources |
| title_full_unstemmed | Optically controlled laser–plasma electron accelerator for compact gamma-ray sources |
| title_short | Optically controlled laser–plasma electron accelerator for compact gamma-ray sources |
| title_sort | optically controlled laser plasma electron accelerator for compact gamma ray sources |
| topic | laser wakefield accelerator blowout optical control of injection comb-like electron beams pulse stacking negative chirp |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aaad57 |
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