From table-top laser plasma accelerator to future free electron laser
by
Jeroen van Tilborg(LBNL)
→
US/Pacific
Auditorium (Bldg. 50)
Auditorium
Bldg. 50
Description
Laser Plasma Accelerators (LPAs) rely on the non-linear interaction of ultra-intense laser pulses (intensity >1018 W/cm2) and underdense gas targets. Following ionization, the laser generates a strong co-propagating plasma wave in which background electrons can be self-injected in accelerating field gradients in excess of 100 GV/m. Over recent years, several groups have reported on the production of well-directed GeV-class electron beams from cm-scale targets. At the BELLA Center, recent experiments have addressed key LPA advances in several ways: 1) pushing the electron energy to higher levels (>4.2 GeV) and accomplishing this at 1 Hz instead of single-shot [PRL, Leemans 2014], 2) realizing a single-element tunable strong-focal-length lens for electrons beams, critical to LPA applications [PRL, van Tilborg 2015], and 3) the coupling of two LPA stages by observing energy gain of the first stage electron beam inside the second stage plasma wave [Nature, Steinke (in press)]. I will highlight the contribution these results have made towards our recently funded effort to realize an LPA-driven free electron laser (intense coherent femtosecond X-rays in the 10-100 eV range).
