We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Laser wake field acceleration: the highly non-linear broken-wave regime.
- Authors
Pukhov, A.; Meyer-ter-Vehn, J.
- Abstract
We use three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to study laser wake field acceleration (LWFA) at highly relativistic laser intensities. We observe ultra-short electron bunches emerging from laser wake fields driven above the wave-breaking threshold by few-cycle laser pulses shorter than the plasma wavelength. We find a new regime in which the laser wake takes the shape of a solitary plasma cavity. It traps background electrons continuously and accelerates them. We show that 12-J, 33-fs laser pulses may produce bunches of 3×10[sup 10] electrons with energy sharply peaked around 300 MeV. These electrons emerge as low-emittance beams from plasma layers just 700-μm thick. We also address a regime intermediate between direct laser acceleration and LWFA, when the laser-pulse duration is comparable with the plasma period.
- Subjects
LASERS; PLASMA waves
- Publication
Applied Physics B: Lasers & Optics, 2002, Vol 74, Issue 4/5, p355
- ISSN
0946-2171
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s003400200795