Hyyong Suk

Electron acceleration to high energy by using two chirped lasers

A scheme for electron acceleration by two crossing chirped lasers has been proposed. An important effect of a frequency chirp of the laser is investigated. Two high intensity chirped lasers, with the same amplitude and frequency, crossing at an arbitrary angle in a vacuum, interfere, causing modulation of laser intensity. An electron experiences a ponderomotive force due to the resultant field of lasers and gains considerable energy. For a certain crossing angle, the electron gains maximum energy due to the constructive interference. A frequency chirp of the laser plays an important role during the electron acceleration in a vacuum. The electron momentum increases due to the frequency chirp. Hence, the electron energy is enhanced during acceleration.

Two-dimensional simulation of photon acceleration by using laser wake fields

Two-dimensional simulations of photon acceleration by using a laser wake field are presented with a fully electromagnetic and relativistic particle-in-cell code. The frequency increase of about 10% is observed, which is saturated mainly by diffraction and dispersion of the laser pulse. Images of electron density and laser field profiles are presented.

COMBINED ROLE OF FREQUENCY VARIATION AND MAGNETIC FIELD ON LASER ELECTRON ACCELERATION

Laser-induced acceleration of an electron injected initially at an angle to the direction of a short laser pulse with frequency variation in the presence of an axial static magnetic field has been investigated. Due to the combined effect of frequency variation of the laser and a magnetic field, the electron escapes from the laser pulse near the pulse peak. The electron gains considerable energy and retains it even after passing of the laser pulse in the presence of magnetic field in vacuum. The frequency variation plays an important role to enhance the electron energy in the presence of a static magnetic field in vacuum.

Additional focusing of a high-intensity laser beam in a plasma with a density ramp and a magnetic field

Propagation of a high power Gaussian laser beam through a plasma with a density ramp where a magnetic field is present has been investigated. The spot size of the laser beam decreases as the beam penetrates into the plasma due to the role of a plasma density ramp. The studies show that the combined effect of a plasma density ramp and a magnetic field enhances the self-focusing property of the laser beam. Both factors not only reduce the spot size of the laser beam but also maintain it with only a mild ripple over several Rayleight lengths.

Frequency chirping for resonance-enhanced electron energy during laser acceleration

The model given by Singh-Tripathi [Phys. Plasmas 11, 743 (2004)] for laser electron acceleration in a magnetic wiggler is revisited by including the effect of laser frequency chirping. Laser frequency chirp helps to maintain the resonance condition longer, which increases the electron energy gain. A significant enhancement in electron energy gain during laser acceleration is observed.

Dependence of the electron beam parameters on the stability of laser propagation in a laser wakefield accelerator

Characteristics of electron beams produced by the laser wakefield acceleration are presented. The dependence of the electron beam parameters on the laser focal spot size is investigated. The experimental result shows the generation of quasimonoenergetic electron beam although the laser spot size was several times larger than the plasma wavelength. Stable electron beam generation at large laser spots was owing to the stable laser propagation in plasma channels. At a small laser spot, the beam quality is poor and this is attributed to the the filamentation instability of the laser beam.

Propagation dynamics of optical vortices with anisotropic phase profiles

Propagation dynamics of optical vortices with anisotropic phase profiles, where the slope of the helical wave front is not uniform in the azimuthal direction, is studied in the linear and nonlinear regimes. Numerical results show that the rotation rate of optical vortices is proportional to the anisotropy and is in good agreement with the analytical approach.

Controlling the betatron oscillations of a wakefield-accelerated electron beam by temporally asymmetric laser pulses

Based on two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we investigated the electron beam’s transverse oscillations by temporally asymmetric laser pulses in laser wakefield acceleration. Of particular interest in this article are the effects of ultrashort laser pulses having sharp rising and slow falling time scales. In this situation, the accelerated electron beam interacts directly with the laser field and undergoes transverse oscillations due to a phase-slip with the laser field. This oscillation can be matched with the betatron oscillation due to the focusing force of the ions, which can lead to a large transverse oscillation amplitude due to the resonance between them. Furthermore, in this case, the electron beam can be microbunched at the laser wavelength, which may provide the possibility for generation of a coherent synchrotron radiation.

Evolution of a high-density electron beam in the field of a super-intense laser pulse

The evolution of a high-density electron beam in the field of a super-intense laser pulse is considered. The one-dimensional (1D) theory for the description of interaction, taking into account the space-charge forces of the beam, is developed, and exact solutions for the equations of motion of the electrons are found. It was shown that the length of the high-density electron beam increases slowly in time after initial compression of the beam by the laser pulse as opposed to the low-density electron beam case, where the length is constant on average. Also, for the high-density electron beam, the sharp peak frozen into the density distribution can appear in addition to a microbunching, which is characteristic for a low-density electron beam in a super-intense laser field. Characteristic parameters for the evolution of the electron beam are calculated by an example of a step-like envelope of the laser pulse. Comparison with 1D particle-in-cell simulations shows adequacy of the derived theory. The considered issue is very important for a special two-pulse realization of a Thomson scattering scheme, where one high-intensity laser pulse is used for acceleration, compression and microbunching of the electron beam, and the other probe counter-streaming laser pulse is used for scattering with frequency up-shifting and amplitude enhancement.

Flying mirror model for interaction of a super-intense nonadiabatic laser pulse with a thin plasma layer: Dynamics of electrons in a linearly polarized external field

Interaction of a high-power laser pulse having a sharp front with a thin plasma layer is considered. General one-dimensional numerical-analytical model is elaborated, in which the plasma layer is represented as a large collection of electron sheets, and a radiation reaction force is derived analytically. Using this model, trajectories of the electrons of the plasma layer are calculated numerically and compared with the electron trajectories obtained in particle-in-cell simulations, and a good agreement is found. Two simplified analytical models are considered, in which only one electron sheet is used, and it moves transversely and longitudinally in the fields of an ion sheet and a laser pulse (longitudinal displacements along the laser beam axis can be considerably larger than the laser wavelength). In the model I, a radiation reaction is included self-consistently, while in the model II a radiation reaction force is omitted. For the two models, analytical solutions for the dynamical parameters of the ele...