Target sensitivity study of density transition-injected electrons in laser wakefield accelerators

The multiple filaments formation process in the laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) was observed by imaging the transmitted laser beam after propagating in the plasma of different density. During propagation, the laser first self-focused into a single filament. After that, it began to defocus with energy spreading in the transverse direction. Two filaments then formed from it and began to propagate independently, moving away from each other. We have also demonstrated that the laser multiple filamentation would lead to the multiple electron beams acceleration in the LWFA via ionization-induced injection scheme. Besides, its influences on the accelerated electron beams were also analyzed both in the single-stage LWFA and cascaded LWFA.

We quantitatively assess the effect of density fluctuation modes on the dynamics of a tagged polymer in an unentangled melt. To this end, we develop a density-based mode-coupling theory (dMCT) using the Mori-Zwanzig approach and projecting the fluctuating force onto pair-density fluctuation modes. The effect of dynamical density fluctuations on the center-of-mass (c.m.) dynamics is also analyzed based on a perturbative approach and we show that dMCT and perturbation techniques yield identical results. The c.m. velocity autocorrelation function (c.m. VAF) exhibits a slow power law relaxation in the time range between the monomer time t_{1} and the Rouse relaxation time t_{N}. We obtain an analytical expression for the c.m. VAF in terms of molecular parameters. In particular, the c.m. VAF scales as -N^{-1}t^{-5/4} (where N is the number of monomer units per chain) in the relevant time regime. The results are qualitatively accounted for by the dynamical correlation hole effect. The predicted -t^{-5/4} dependence of the c.m. VAF is supported by data of non-momentum-conserving computer simulations. However, the comparison shows that the theory significantly underestimates the amplitude of the effect. This issue is discussed and an alternative approach is addressed in the second part of this series [Farago et al., Phys. Rev. E 85, 051807 (2012), the following paper].

Pellet injection has been used on tokamak devices in a number of experiments to provide plasma fueling and density profile control. The mass deposition of these fuel pellets, defined as the change in density profile caused by the pellet, has been found to show an outward displacement of the ablated material from that expected by mapping the theoretical ablation rate onto the flux surfaces. This suggests that fast transport of the pellet ablatant occurs during the flow along field lines that may be driven by VB effects. A comparison of the deposition of pellets from different machines shows similar behavior. Initial results from alternative injection locations designed to take advantage of the outward ablatant drift is presented.

Electron dephasing is a major gain-inhibiting effect in plasma-based accelerators. A novel method is proposed to overcome dephasing, in which the modulation of a modest ( O(10 kG)), axial, uniform magnetic field in the acceleration channel leads to densification of the plasma through magnetic compression, enabling direct, time-resolved control of the plasma wave properties. The methodology is broadly applicable and can be optimized to improve the leading acceleration approaches, including plasma beat-wave, plasma wakefield, and laser wakefield acceleration. The advantages of magnetic compression compared to other proposed schemes to overcome dephasing are identified.

Via three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, the self-mode-transition of a laser-driven electron acceleration from laser wakefield to plasma-wakefield acceleration is studied. In laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) mode, an intense laser pulse creates a large amplitude wakefield resulting in high-energy electrons. Along with the laser pulse depletion, the electron bunch accelerated in the LWFA mode drives a plasma wakefield. Then, after the plasma wakefield accelerator mode is established, electrons are trapped and accelerated in the plasma wakefield. The mode transition process and the characteristics of the accelerated electron beam are presented.

In the process of bubble wakefield acceleration highly nonlinear region is developed inside plasma, which intuitively suggests that nonuniform plasma density having gradients may be more suited to achieve large nonlinearity in the system. Moreover, when an intense laser pulse propagates in a plasma, it is subjected to various instabilities and these instabilities can be controlled by plasma density profiles which effectively control the energy and flux of the accelerated particles. Considering all these points we investigate in the present work the scaling effect of up-ramp and down-ramp regions in plasma density profile on the bubble wakefield. These regions are separated by a plateau region (maximum density) enabling the density to have trapezoidal profile. With this density profile, the bubble wakefield acceleration is examined considering four different lengths of up-ramp and plateau regions keeping a constant down-ramp length. Increasing steepness of up-ramp length (larger density gradient), i.e., lowering the length of up-ramp and increasing the plateau length creates a bubble having higher wakefield strength, resulting into higher accumulation of plasma electrons at its tail and higher energy spectrum with higher kinetic energy gradient and Poynting flux of accelerated electrons.

An approach to calculating the effects of fluctuations in density that considers the collective motions of molecules in small condensed phases (e.g., droplets, microcrystals, adsorption at microcrystal faces) is proposed. Statistical sums of the vibrational, rotational, and translational motions of molecules are of a collective character expressed in the dependences of these statistical sums on the local configurations of neighboring molecules. This changes their individual contributions to the free energy and modifies fluctuations in density in the inner homogeneous regions of small bodies. Interactions between nearest neighbors are considered in a quasi-chemical approximation that reflects the effects of short-range direct correlations. Expressions for isotherms relating the densities of mixture components to the chemical potentials in a thermostat are obtained, along with equations for pair distribution functions.

In order to understand particle transport systematically in toroidal plasmas, electron density profiles were compared in JT-60U tokamak and LHD helical plasmas with low collisionality. The peakedness of density profiles increased with decreasing collisionality in ELMy H-mode plasmas of JT-60U when the collisionality at half the minor radius was in the collisionless regime. The collisionality dependence of density profiles in LHD plasmas was similar to that in JT-60U plasmas in the same collisionality regime when neoclassical transport was reduced by geometrical optimization. On the other hand, in LHD plasmas having relatively larger neoclassical transport than that in the above case, the peakedness of the density profiles decreased with decreasing collisionality. Density profiles in LHD plasmas tend to approach those in JT-60U, which are dominated by anomalous transport, as the contribution of neoclassical transport was reduced.

Density downramp injection has been demonstrated to be an elegant and efficient approach for generating high-quality electron beams in laser wakefield accelerators. Recent studies have demonstrated the possibilities of generating electron beams with charges ranging from tens to hundreds of picocoulombs while maintaining good beam quality. However, the plasma and laser parameters in these studies have been limited to specific ranges or attention has been focused on separate physical processes such as beam loading, which affects the uniformity of the accelerating field and thus the energy spread of the trapped electrons, the repulsive force from the rear spike of the bubble, which reduces the transverse momentum p⊥ of the trapped electrons and results in small beam emittance, and the laser evolution when traveling in the plasma. In this work, we present a comprehensive numerical study of downramp injection in the laser wakefield, and we demonstrate that the current profile of the injected electron beam is directly correlated with the density transition parameters, which further affects the beam charge and energy evolution. By fine-tuning the plasma density parameters, electron beams with high charge (up to several hundreds of picocoulombs) and low energy spread (around 1% FWHM) can be obtained. All these results are supported by large-scale quasi-three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We anticipate that the electron beams with tunable beam properties generated using this approach will be suitable for a wide range of applications.

Using a fast and flexible field reconstruction method based on the Gerchberg-Saxton Algorithm with Hermite-Gauss Modes Decomposition (GSA-MD), a precise modeling of the laser driver distribution was performed and used to simulate the creation of a relativistic electron bunch by Laser WakeField Acceleration (LWFA). In the bubble regime, the fluence distribution of the laser driving the plasma waves directly affects plasma cavity formation, as well as the injection and acceleration of electron beams in these waves. A detailed analysis of the transverse dynamics of the laser energy distribution, as well as of its effects on the evolution of the plasma wave shape and of the accelerated electron beam, is provided. This high accuracy analysis technique can be applied to explain the data measured in experiments, often conducted with lasers presenting an asymmetric transverse energy distribution.

Measurements and 2-D modeling of recycling and edge transport in discharges with lithium-coated PFCs in NSTX

Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) is a plasma-based electron beam accelerator technology that can deliver electron beams with energies up to several GeVs, depending mainly on the power of the used laser system and the electron injection scheme. Here, we present the results from a GeV electron accelerator with a high reproducibility and a charge up to 30 pC using 110–120-TW laser pulses and by employing the well-established self-truncated ionization injection (STII) mechanism. These electron beams can be further used via bremsstrahlung in high-Z solid materials for the generation of gamma-rays and positron beams, therefore, composing a compact radiation source for various applications. Here, we use the Monte Carlo simulation code “Geant4” for studying the properties of those radiations. As expected, the characteristics of the generated gamma-rays and positron beams showed a strong dependence on the incident electron beam, target material, and thickness. The trend of positrons and gamma-rays energies and yield is shown for different high-Z to low-Z targets with the same areal mass density. Thicknesses of the target material in terms of its radiation length have been varied periodically in order to find the optimal thickness for obtaining the maximum energy and yield of the radiations. A trend can be seen in terms of energy spectra of the gamma-rays and positrons while increasing the thickness of the targets. The amount of radiation yields is also crucial to the choice of appropriate thickness of the target. In addition, this paper provides a brief description of the electrodynamics processes such as bremsstrahlung and electron–positron pair production initiated by LWFA electron beams.

Plasma wakefield accelerators use tabletop equipment to produce relativistic femtosecond electron bunches. Optical and X-ray diagnostics have established that their charge concentrates within a micrometre-sized volume, but its sub-micrometre internal distribution, which critically influences gain in free-electron lasers or particle yield in colliders, has proven elusive to characterize. Here, by simultaneously imaging different wavelengths of coherent optical transition radiation that a laser-wakefield-accelerated electron bunch generates when exiting a metal foil, we reveal the structure of the coherently radiating component of bunch charge. The key features of the images are shown to uniquely correlate with how plasma electrons injected into the wake: by a plasma-density discontinuity, by ionizing high-Z gas-target dopants or by uncontrolled laser–plasma dynamics. With additional input from the electron spectra, spatially averaged coherent optical transition radiation spectra and particle-in-cell simulations, we reconstruct coherent three-dimensional charge structures. The results demonstrate an essential metrology for next-generation compact X-ray free-electron lasers driven by plasma-based accelerators.

In order to obtain a detailed density profile of a field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasma, fast-response multichannel heterodyne quadrature interferometers are constructed. Using these interferometers and assuming a rigid-body radial shift motion of the plasma, a spatially fine-grained line integrated density (∫ n dl) profile at its axial midplane is measured. A radial density profile n(r) is reduced from spline fitting of ∫ n dl. The n(r) is found to be nearly an even function of u(=r2/R2−1, R is the magnetic axis radius) as expected. The n(r) is also obtained by the fitting of a line integral of a model n(r) consisting of a modified rigid rotor (RR) profile which can describe the density steepening near the separatrix of the FRC plasma. When the plasma is fat (xs =separatrix radius/coil inner radius=0.63), the density profile is very near to the RR profile itself given by sech2 (Ku), where K is a constant. When the plasma is slender (xs =0.43), the modification is somewhat pronounced. In both cases n(r) at r=R is flatter but near to the RR profile, and the scale length of the density gradient at the separatrix is about twice the ion gyroradius. Detailed error analyses of the fitting parameters are done to show the range of allowed profiles. Although the fitting is accomplished very well (root-mean-square excursion of the fitted ∫ n dl from the measured one is from 1.9% to 2.5%), much variation of n(r) is still possible.

Recent results on laser wakefield acceleration in tailored plasma channels have underlined the importance of controlling the density profile of the gas target. In particular, it was reported that the appropriate density tailoring can result in improved injection, acceleration, and collimation of laser-accelerated electron beams. To achieve such profiles, innovative target designs are required. For this purpose, we have reviewed the usage of additive layer manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, in order to produce gas jet nozzles. Notably we have compared the performance of two industry standard techniques, namely, selective laser sintering (SLS) and stereolithography (SLA). Furthermore we have used the common fused deposition modeling to reproduce basic gas jet designs and used SLA and SLS for more sophisticated nozzle designs. The nozzles are characterized interferometrically and used for electron acceleration experiments with the Salle Jaune terawatt laser at Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée.