Optimization of a hollow-core fiber based nonlinear pulse compressor for a compact kHz laser wakefield accelerator
POSTER
Abstract
MeV electron beams from a compact laser plasma accelerator can be used for a number of applications, such as Bremsstrahlung x-ray imaging and ultrafast electron diffraction. The commercially available laser systems, which offer kHz pulses with duration of tens fs and mJ energy, are insufficient to fulfill the resonant condition for the laser wakefield acceleration and require temporal compression. We report on nonlinear compression of a commercial Ti:Sapphire laser from ~40 fs to <4 fs in a hollow-core fiber compressor with 60% overall energy transmission efficiency. We show that controlling the nonlinearity prior to coupling into the fiber proves to be critical to achieve high energy transmission. Through third order dispersion tuning, a peak power above 1 TW was achieved, enabling acceleration of electrons to MeV energy level at kHz repetition rate.
*This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC02-05CH11231. The project was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics, and National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development (DNN R&D).
Presenters
-
Hongmei Tang
- University of Michigan
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory