Collimated beam of MeV electrons accelerated by a terawatt laser

R. Wagner; S. Y. Chen; A. Maksimchuk; E. Dodd; J. K. Kim; D. Umstadter

Collimated beam of MeV electrons accelerated by a terawatt laser

R. Wagner, S. Y. Chen, A. Maksimchuk, E. Dodd, J. K. Kim, D. Umstadter

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review

Abstract

It is demonstrated that a laser wake field can produce a collimated beam of MeV electrons and that the laser may be guided by relativistic self-focusing and electron cavitation. The experiment is remarkably simple. A high-power laser is focused into a molecular beam produced by a gas jet. The laser used in the experiment has a pulse duration of τ = 400 fs, and an energy up to 10 J, corresponding to a peak power of 25 TW. When focused in vacuum with an f/5 off-axis parabolic mirror, the laser can reach an intensity of up to 10¹⁹ W/cm². To create the plasma, the gas from a pulsed valve is tunnel-ionized by the laser pulse itself, reaching a peak electron density on axis of 10¹⁹ cm^-3. The electron source size is estimated to be 10 μm and the electron pulse duration, a few picoseconds.

Original language	English
Pages	70
Number of pages	1
State	Published - 1996
Externally published	Yes
Event	Proceedings of the 1996 6th Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference, QELS - Anaheim, CA, USA Duration: Jun 2 1996 → Jun 7 1996

Conference

Conference	Proceedings of the 1996 6th Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference, QELS
City	Anaheim, CA, USA
Period	06/2/96 → 06/7/96

Cite this

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title = "Collimated beam of MeV electrons accelerated by a terawatt laser",

abstract = "It is demonstrated that a laser wake field can produce a collimated beam of MeV electrons and that the laser may be guided by relativistic self-focusing and electron cavitation. The experiment is remarkably simple. A high-power laser is focused into a molecular beam produced by a gas jet. The laser used in the experiment has a pulse duration of τ = 400 fs, and an energy up to 10 J, corresponding to a peak power of 25 TW. When focused in vacuum with an f/5 off-axis parabolic mirror, the laser can reach an intensity of up to 1019 W/cm2. To create the plasma, the gas from a pulsed valve is tunnel-ionized by the laser pulse itself, reaching a peak electron density on axis of 1019 cm-3. The electron source size is estimated to be 10 μm and the electron pulse duration, a few picoseconds.",

author = "R. Wagner and Chen, {S. Y.} and A. Maksimchuk and E. Dodd and Kim, {J. K.} and D. Umstadter",

year = "1996",

language = "English",

pages = "70",

note = "Proceedings of the 1996 6th Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference, QELS ; Conference date: 02-06-1996 Through 07-06-1996",

}

TY - CONF

T1 - Collimated beam of MeV electrons accelerated by a terawatt laser

AU - Wagner, R.

AU - Chen, S. Y.

AU - Maksimchuk, A.

AU - Dodd, E.

AU - Kim, J. K.

AU - Umstadter, D.

PY - 1996

Y1 - 1996

N2 - It is demonstrated that a laser wake field can produce a collimated beam of MeV electrons and that the laser may be guided by relativistic self-focusing and electron cavitation. The experiment is remarkably simple. A high-power laser is focused into a molecular beam produced by a gas jet. The laser used in the experiment has a pulse duration of τ = 400 fs, and an energy up to 10 J, corresponding to a peak power of 25 TW. When focused in vacuum with an f/5 off-axis parabolic mirror, the laser can reach an intensity of up to 1019 W/cm2. To create the plasma, the gas from a pulsed valve is tunnel-ionized by the laser pulse itself, reaching a peak electron density on axis of 1019 cm-3. The electron source size is estimated to be 10 μm and the electron pulse duration, a few picoseconds.

AB - It is demonstrated that a laser wake field can produce a collimated beam of MeV electrons and that the laser may be guided by relativistic self-focusing and electron cavitation. The experiment is remarkably simple. A high-power laser is focused into a molecular beam produced by a gas jet. The laser used in the experiment has a pulse duration of τ = 400 fs, and an energy up to 10 J, corresponding to a peak power of 25 TW. When focused in vacuum with an f/5 off-axis parabolic mirror, the laser can reach an intensity of up to 1019 W/cm2. To create the plasma, the gas from a pulsed valve is tunnel-ionized by the laser pulse itself, reaching a peak electron density on axis of 1019 cm-3. The electron source size is estimated to be 10 μm and the electron pulse duration, a few picoseconds.

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M3 - Paper

AN - SCOPUS:0029716096

SP - 70

T2 - Proceedings of the 1996 6th Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference, QELS

Y2 - 2 June 1996 through 7 June 1996

ER -

Collimated beam of MeV electrons accelerated by a terawatt laser

Abstract

Conference

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