IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v4y2013i1d10.1038_ncomms2988.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quasi-monoenergetic laser-plasma acceleration of electrons to 2 GeV

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaoming Wang

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • Rafal Zgadzaj

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • Neil Fazel

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • Zhengyan Li

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • S. A. Yi

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • Xi Zhang

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • Watson Henderson

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • Y.-Y. Chang

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • R. Korzekwa

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • H.-E. Tsai

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • C.-H. Pai

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • H. Quevedo

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • G. Dyer

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • E. Gaul

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • M. Martinez

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • A. C. Bernstein

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • T. Borger

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • M. Spinks

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • M. Donovan

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • V. Khudik

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • G. Shvets

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • T. Ditmire

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

  • M. C. Downer

    (University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712-1081, USA)

Abstract

Laser-plasma accelerators of only a centimetre’s length have produced nearly monoenergetic electron bunches with energy as high as 1 GeV. Scaling these compact accelerators to multi-gigaelectronvolt energy would open the prospect of building X-ray free-electron lasers and linear colliders hundreds of times smaller than conventional facilities, but the 1 GeV barrier has so far proven insurmountable. Here, by applying new petawatt laser technology, we produce electron bunches with a spectrum prominently peaked at 2 GeV with only a few per cent energy spread and unprecedented sub-milliradian divergence. Petawatt pulses inject ambient plasma electrons into the laser-driven accelerator at much lower density than was previously possible, thereby overcoming the principal physical barriers to multi-gigaelectronvolt acceleration: dephasing between laser-driven wake and accelerating electrons and laser pulse erosion. Simulations indicate that with improvements in the laser-pulse focus quality, acceleration to nearly 10 GeV should be possible with the available pulse energy.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoming Wang & Rafal Zgadzaj & Neil Fazel & Zhengyan Li & S. A. Yi & Xi Zhang & Watson Henderson & Y.-Y. Chang & R. Korzekwa & H.-E. Tsai & C.-H. Pai & H. Quevedo & G. Dyer & E. Gaul & M. Martinez & , 2013. "Quasi-monoenergetic laser-plasma acceleration of electrons to 2 GeV," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-9, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms2988
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2988
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2988
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms2988?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms2988. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.