Bo Miao

MeV electron acceleration at 1 kHz with <10 mJ laser pulses.

We demonstrate laser-driven acceleration of electrons to MeV-scale energies at 1 kHz repetition rate using <10  mJ pulses focused on near-critical density He and H2 gas jets. Using the H2 gas jet, electron acceleration to ∼0.5  MeV in ∼10  fC bunches was observed with laser pulse energy as low as 1.3 mJ. Increasing the pulse energy to 10 mJ, we measure ∼1  pC charge bunches with >1  MeV energy for both He and H2 gas jets.

Multi-MeV Electron Acceleration by Subterawatt Laser Pulses

Electrons are accelerated to ~10 MeV scale using subterawatt ultrashort pulses which relativistically self-focus in a thin, dense, gas target. Injection of electrons into the plasma wave is accompanied by an intense, broadband light flash.