Broadband single-shot electron spectrometer for GeV-class laser-plasma-based accelerators

Broadband single-shot electron spectrometer for GeV-class laser-plasma-based accelerators.

Laser-plasma-based accelerators can provide electrons over a broad energy range and/or with large momentum spread. The electron beam energy distribution can be controlled via accurate control of laser and plasma properties, and beams with energies ranging from approximately 0.5 to 1000 MeV have been observed. Measuring these energy distributions in a single shot requires the use of a diagnostic...

Wavefront-sensor-based electron density measurements for laser-plasma accelerators.

Characterization of the electron density in laser produced plasmas is presented using direct wavefront analysis of a probe laser beam. The performance of a laser-driven plasma-wakefield accelerator depends on the plasma wavelength and hence on the electron density. Density measurements using a conventional folded-wave interferometer and using a commercial wavefront sensor are compared for diffe...

Plasma Channels and Laser Pulse Tailoring for GeV laser-plasma accelerators

We have demonstrated distortion-free guiding of 1 TW pulses at near relativistic intensity (0.2 x 10 W/cm) over 60 Rayleigh lengths at 20 Hz repetition rate in a preformed helium plasma channel. As steps toward efficient channeled Laser Wakefield Acceleration up to the dephasing limit, we have upgraded our laser system from 1 to 4 TW, adapted femtosecond interferometric diagnostics to probe pla...

Laser-driven plasma-wave electron accelerators

A Broadband Electron Spectrometer and Electron Detectors for Laser Accelerator Experiments

We describe the apparatus used to measure the spectrum of accelerated electrons from a laser-plasma acceleration experiment carried out at Rutherford Appleton Laboratories (RAL). The source of the broadband, energetic electrons was the forward Raman scattering instability of a high intensity (5 × 10 W/cm) laser. Here the laser beam photons decay into scattered photons and a relativistic electro...