Rodolfo E. Giacone

Particle-in-cell simulations of tunneling ionization effects in plasma-based accelerators

Plasma-based accelerators can sustain accelerating gradients on the order of 100 GV/m. If the plasma is not fully ionized, fields of this magnitude will ionize neutral atoms via electron tunneling, which can completely change the dynamics of the plasma wake. Particle-in-cell simulations of a high-field plasma wakefield accelerator, using the OOPIC code [D. L. Bruhwiler et al., Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 4, 101302 (2001)], which includes field-induced tunneling ionization of neutral Li gas, show that the presence of even moderate neutral gas density significantly degrades the quality of the wakefield. The tunneling ionization model in OOPIC has been validated via a detailed comparison with experimental data from the l’OASIS laboratory [W.P. Leemans et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 174802 (2002)]. The properties of a wake generated directly from a neutral gas are studied, showing that one can recover the peak fields of the fully ionized plasma simulations, if the density of the electron drive bunch is increased...

Coupling of laser energy into plasma channels

Diffractive spreading of a laser pulse imposes severe limitations on the acceleration length and maximum electron energy in the laser wake field accelerator (LWFA). Optical guiding of a laser pulse via plasma channels can extend the laser-plasma interaction distance over many Rayleigh lengths. Energy efficient coupling of laser pulses into and through plasma channels is very important for optimal LWFA performance. Results from simulation parameter studies on channel guiding using the particle-in-cell (PIC) code VORPAL [C. Nieter and J. R. Cary, J. Comput. Phys. 196, 448 (2004)] are presented and discussed. The effects that density ramp length and the position of the laser pulse focus have on coupling into channels are considered. Moreover, the effect of laser energy leakage out of the channel domain and the effects of tunneling ionization of a neutral gas on the guided laser pulse are also investigated. Power spectral diagnostics were developed and used to separate pump depletion from energy leakage. The ...

Clean beams from laser wake-field accelerators via optical injection with a cleanup pulse

Multiple colliding-pulse injection schemes have been proposed as means for trapping electrons in the ultrashort acceleration buckets of laser-generated wake fields. The primary goal of this paper is to present a parameter study to determine the beams that can be obtained through collisions of collinear laser pulses in uniform plasma. The parameter study is through fully self-consistent, two-dimensional, particle-in-cell simulations, as previous work used only test-particle computations. To remove the multiple beams that can commonly be generated in colliding pulse injection, we use a cleanup pulse, a trailing laser pulse that absorbs the wake. The wake then no longer exists in the region where the trailing beamlets would be, and so the trailing beamlets no longer form. A series of simulations predicts that with such one can obtain single, short (⩽10fs) beams with a bunch charge of order 10pC, normalized emittance of order 2πμm, and energy spread of the order of 10%. The parameters of the beams are insensi...

Simulations of electron injection into plasma wake fields by colliding laser pulses using XOOPIC

First time, self-consistent particle-in-cell simulations of electron injection into a plasma wake field by colliding laser pulses are presented. This method for injecting electrons in a laser wake field has been proposed recently by Esarey et al. (1997). An intense pump pulse generates a fast wake field. Forward going and backward going injection pulses collide at some distance behind the pump pulse generating a slow ponderomotive beat wave which can be used to inject plasma electrons into the fast wake field for acceleration to high energies. We have modified XOOPIC to run numerical simulations of the colliding pulses scheme. We have analyzed the influence of plasma and pulse parameters, so that we are able to study electron injection as it varies with amplitude, wavelength, and phases of the pulses. We will present preliminary results.

Modeling beam-driven and laser-driven plasma Wakefield accelerators with XOOPIC

We present 2-D particle-in-cell simulations of both beam-driven and laser-driven plasma wakefield accelerators, using the object-oriented code XOOPIC, which is time explicit, fully electromagnetic, and capable of running on massively parallel supercomputers. Simulations of laser-driven wakefields with low ({approximately} 10{sup 16} W/cm{sup 2}) and high ({approximately} 10{sup 18} W/cm{sup 2}) peak intensity laser pulses are conducted in slab geometry, showing agreement with theory. Simulations of the E-157 beam wakefield experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, in which a 30 GeV electron beam passes through 1 m of preionized lithium plasma, are conducted in cylindrical geometry, obtaining good agreement with previous work. We briefly describe some of the more significant modifications to XOOPIC required by this work, and summarize the issues relevant to modeling electron-neutral collisions in a particle-in-cell code.