Laser-driven electron acceleration in infinite vacuum

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2011.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wong, Liang Jie
Other Authors: Franz X. Kartner.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/66479
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author Wong, Liang Jie
author2 Franz X. Kartner.
author_facet Franz X. Kartner.
Wong, Liang Jie
author_sort Wong, Liang Jie
collection MIT
description Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2011.
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institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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spelling mit-1721.1/664792019-04-12T16:02:11Z Laser-driven electron acceleration in infinite vacuum Wong, Liang Jie Franz X. Kartner. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2011. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-88). I first review basic models for laser-plasma interaction that explain electron acceleration and beam confinement in plasma. Next, I discuss ponderomotive electron acceleration in infinite vacuum, showing that the transverse scattering angle of the accelerated electron may be kept small with a proper choice of parameters. I then analyze the direct (a.k.a. linear) acceleration of an electron in infinite vacuum by a pulsed radially-polarized laser beam, consequently demonstrating the possibility of accelerating an initially-relativistic electron in vacuum without the use of ponderomotive forces or any optical devices to terminate the laser field. As the Lawson-Woodward theorem has sometimes been cited to discount the possibility of net energy transfer from a laser pulse to a relativistic particle via linear acceleration in unbounded vacuum, I derive an analytical expression (which I verify with numerical simulation results) defining the regime where the Lawson-Woodward theorem in fact allows for this. Finally, I propose a two-color laser-driven direct acceleration scheme in vacuum that can achieve electron acceleration exceeding 90% of the one-color theoretical energy gain limit, over twice of what is possible with a one-color pulsed beam of equal total energy and pulse duration. by Liang Jie Wong. S.M. 2011-10-17T21:31:15Z 2011-10-17T21:31:15Z 2011 2011 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/66479 756462920 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 88 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Wong, Liang Jie
Laser-driven electron acceleration in infinite vacuum
title Laser-driven electron acceleration in infinite vacuum
title_full Laser-driven electron acceleration in infinite vacuum
title_fullStr Laser-driven electron acceleration in infinite vacuum
title_full_unstemmed Laser-driven electron acceleration in infinite vacuum
title_short Laser-driven electron acceleration in infinite vacuum
title_sort laser driven electron acceleration in infinite vacuum
topic Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/66479
work_keys_str_mv AT wongliangjie laserdrivenelectronaccelerationininfinitevacuum