Experimental Observation of Direct Laser Acceleration in a Low Density Self-Modulated Laser Wakefield Acceleration Regime

ORAL

Abstract

Direct Laser Acceleration (DLA) is observed in an experiment on the Titan laser system at the Jupiter Laser Facility in a low density (3x10$^{\mathrm{17}}$ cm$^{\mathrm{-3}})$ regime of a self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator. A forking structure is show in the highest energies (\textgreater 50 MeV) of an accelerated electron beam (\textless 50 mrad) previously shown to indicate the effects of DLA during the acceleration process. The experimental results are confirmed in a quasi-3D simulation using OSIRIS under similar conditions to the experiment, i.e. 1 ps laser pulse, and moderate a$_{\mathrm{0}} \quad =$ 2.7. The simulation results show a stable SM-LWFA for the length of a 10 mm accelerator and confirm DLA being the dominant acceleration mechanism for the highest energy electrons.

*This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344 and supported by the DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program (Fusion Energy Sciences) under SCW1575-1

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Authors

  • Paul King

    • University of Texas at Austin

  • Kyle Miller

    • University of California Los Angeles
    • University of California, Los Angeles
    • Dept. of Physics University of Californial Los Angeles
    • UCLA

  • Nuno Lemos

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • LLNL

  • Jessica Shaw

    • Laboratory of Laser Energetics
    • Laboratory for Laser Energetics University of Rochester

  • B.F. Kraus

    • Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
    • Princeton Plasma Physics Lab
    • PPPL

  • Matt Thibodeau

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Bjorn Hegelich

    • University of Texas at Austin

  • Jesus Hinojosa

    • Center for Ultrafast Optical Science

  • Chan Joshi

    • Dept. of Electrical Engineering University of Californial Los Angeles

  • Ken Marsh

    • Dept. of Electrical Engineering University of Californial Los Angeles

  • Warren Mori

    • Dept. of Physics University of Californial Los Angeles

  • Art Pak

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Alec Thomas

    • Center for Ultrafast Optical Science

  • Felicie Albert

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory