Rafal Zgadzaj

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

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.

Production And Characterization Of A Fully-Ionized He Plasma Channel

We report guiding of intense (I=1.3±0.7×1017 W/cm2) 80 fs laser pulses with negligible spectral distortion through 1.5-cm-long preformed helium plasma channels. Channels were formed by axicon-focused laser pulses of either 0.3 J energy, 100 ps duration, after preionizing a 200–700 Torr backfill of He gas to ne∼1016 cm−3 with a pulsed electrical discharge; or 0.6–1.1 J energy, 400 ps duration, which required neither preionization nor intentional impurities for seeding. Transverse interferometry showed that He was fully ionized on the channel axis in both cases. Identical femtosecond pulses suffered substantial ionization-induced blueshifts after propagating through Ar and Ne channels of similar dimensions.

Compact tunable Compton x-ray source from laser-plasma accelerator and plasma mirror

We present an in-depth experimental-computational study of the parameters necessary to optimize a tunable, quasi-monoenergetic, efficient, low-background Compton backscattering (CBS) x-ray source that is based on the self-aligned combination of a laser-plasma accelerator (LPA) and a plasma mirror (PM). The main findings are (1) an LPA driven in the blowout regime by 30 TW, 30 fs laser pulses produce not only a high-quality, tunable, quasi-monoenergetic electron beam, but also a high-quality, relativistically intense (a0 ∼ 1) spent drive pulse that remains stable in profile and intensity over the LPA tuning range. (2) A thin plastic film near the gas jet exit retro-reflects the spent drive pulse efficiently into oncoming electrons to produce CBS x-rays without detectable bremsstrahlung background. Meanwhile, anomalous far-field divergence of the retro-reflected light demonstrates relativistic “denting” of the PM. Exploiting these optimized LPA and PM conditions, we demonstrate quasi-monoenergetic (50% FWHM...

Single-shot tomographic movies of evolving light-velocity objects

Tomography—cross-sectional imaging based on measuring radiation transmitted through an object along different directions—enables non-invasive imaging of hidden stationary objects, such as internal bodily organs, from their sequentially measured projections. Here we adapt tomographic methods to visualize—in one laser shot—the instantaneous structure and evolution of a laser-induced object propagating through a transparent Kerr medium. We reconstruct ‘movies’ of a laser pulse’s diffraction, self-focusing and filamentation from phase ‘streaks’ imprinted onto probe pulses that cross the main pulse’s path simultaneously at different angles. Multiple probes are generated and detected compactly and simply, making the system robust, easy to align and adaptable to many problems. Our technique could potentially visualize, for example, plasma wakefield accelerators, optical rogue waves or fast ignitor pulses, light-velocity objects, whose detailed space–time dynamics are known only through intensive computer simulations.

Frequency-domain streak camera for ultrafast imaging of evolving light-velocity objects

We report the extension of Frequency-Domain Holography to a Frequency-Domain Streak Camera capable of capturing the evolution of refractive index structures propagating at luminal speeds. Possibility of extension to Frequency-Domain Tomography is demonstrated.

Single-shot visualization of evolving, light-speed structures by multiobject-plane phase-contrast imaging

We demonstrate a single-shot method of visualizing the evolution of light-speed, laser-generated structures as they propagate over hundreds of Rayleigh lengths (typically ≥10 cm) through a tenuous medium. An ultrashort probe pulse crosses the objects path at a small angle (θ<5°) and a specific time delay. Copies of the phase-modulated probe are then relay-imaged to separate detectors from selected object planes along the propagation path. A phase-contrast technique based on Kerr effect and nonlinear absorption converts phase to intensity modulation, improving sensitivity in tenuous media. A continuous record of the probe phase modulation along the propagation path is reconstructed.

Self-aligning concave relativistic plasma mirror with adjustable focus

We report an experimental-computational study of the optical properties of plasma mirrors (PMs) at the incident laser frequency when irradiated directly at relativistic intensity ( 10 18 < I 0 < 10 19 W / cm 2 ) by near-normally incident ( 4 ° ), high-contrast, 30 fs, 800 nm laser pulses. We find that such relativistic PMs are highly reflective ( 0.6 – 0.8 ) and focus a significant fraction of reflected light to intensity as large as ∼ 10 I 0 at distance f as small as ∼ 25 μ m from the PM, provided that pre-pulses do not exceed 1014 W/cm2 prior to ∼ 20 ps before arrival of the main pulse peak. Particle-in-cell simulations show that focusing results from denting of the reflecting surface by light pressure combined with relativistic transparency and that reflectivity and f can be adjusted by controlling pre-plasma length L over the range 0.5 ≲ L ≲ 3 μ m. Pump-probe reflectivity measurements show that the PMs focusing properties evolve on a ps time scale.

Generation of dark-current-free quasi-monoenergetic 1.25 GeV electrons by laser wakefield acceleration

We report electron acceleration to 1.25 GeV by petawatt-laser-driven wakefield acceleration at plasma density 5×1017 cm3. Electron beams are dark-current-free, quasi-monoenergetic, highly collimated (<;1mrad divergence), contain tens of pC and have excellent pointing stability.

Self-injected petawatt laser-driven plasma electron acceleration in 10 17 cm −3 plasma

We report observation of electron self-injection and acceleration in a plasma accelerator driven by the Texas petawatt laser at 1017 cm−3 plasma density, an order of magnitude lower density than previous self-injected laser-plasma accelerators.

Single-shot, ultrafast diagnostics of light-speed plasma structures and accelerating GeV electrons

We have experimentally demonstrated ultrafast diagnostics to visualize the laser wakefield acceleration process in a single-shot mode. We measured the Faraday rotation of a probe pulse due to the magnetic field induced by GeV electrons in low-density plasmas. In addition, we improved the temporal resolution of Frequency Domain Streak Camera (FDSC) to ∼10 fs by broadening the bandwidth of the probe beam, enabling visualization of the bubble dynamics. A prototype experiment using the broad bandwidth FDSC was performed.