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Since the laser invention [1, 2], the advent of Free Electron Lasers (FEL) [3, 4] in the X-ray domain half a century later, has opened new areas for matter investigation with higher temporal resolution. In parallel, the development of laser plasma acceleration (LPA) [5] that delivers today several GeV beam acceleration [6] in a short distance appears also very promising. The qualification of the LPA for FEL application can thus be viewed as an important challenge [7]. Nevertheless, present LPA electron beam parameters (e. g. energy spread and beam divergence) do not meet conventional accelerator state-of-the-art performance and FEL application requires a specific beam handling. In such a prospect, the COXINEL beam manipulation line [8, 9] using variable permanent magnet quadrupoles for emittance growth mitigation and de-mixing chicane for the energy spread handling developed at SOLEIL has been installed for using electrons produced with an intense laser of Laboratoire d’Optique Appliquee (LOA). ´ Strategies for controlling electron beam position and dispersion have been elaborated and demonstrated [10]. Finally, undulator spontaneous emission has been measured at the end of the line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diagnostic and control of spatiotemporal couplings for laser-plasma acceleration drive lasers are discussed. Near-field angular dispersion and spatial chirp were measured by GRENOUILLE. The calculation of the pulse front tilt evolution is presented, and it is shown that the pulse front angle near focus can be controlled within 5 mrad, and finely tuned through temporal chirp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose and investigate the concept of two-color laser wakefield and direct acceleration (LWDA) scheme in the regime of moderate (10 TW scale) laser powers. The concept utilizes two unequal frequency laser pulses: the leading long-wavelength (λ0 = 0.8 μm) wakefield laser pulse driving a nonlinear plasma wake, and a trailing short-wavelength (λDLA = λ0/2) DLA laser pulse. The combination of the large electric field, yet small ponderomotive pressure of the DLA pulse is shown to be advantageous for producing a higher energy and larger charge electron beam compared with the single frequency LWDA. The sensitivity of the dual-frequency LWDA to synchronization time jitter is also reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work presented in the laser-plasma acceleration working group at the 2016 Advanced Accelerator Concepts (AAC) Workshop is summarized. Some of the highlights include: direct visualization of the electric and magnetic fields using a LPA (laser plasma accelerator) electron probe, offering transverse snapshots of the wakefield even for very low density; first demonstration of multi-pulse LPA and wakefield cancellation with a trailing pulse (first step to energy recovery); and control over the shock front angle to optimize density transition injection, which provides stable and low-energy-spread beams that are critical for increasing the efficiency of the recently presented staged LPA. Interesting ongoing and future work discussed included LPAs driven by CO2 lasers and scaling to 10 GeV with and without optical guiding. Further details on each of these topics can be found in the respective papers in these Proceedings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An overview on the underlying principles of the hybrid plasma wakefield acceleration scheme dubbed "Trojan Horse" acceleration is given. The concept is based on laser-controlled release of electrons directly into a particle-beam-driven plasma blowout, paving the way for controlled, shapeable electron bunches with ultralow emittance and ultrahigh brightness. Combining the virtues of a low-ionization-threshold underdense photocathode with the GV/m-scale electric fields of a practically dephasing-free beam-driven plasma blowout, this constitutes a 4th generation electron acceleration scheme. It is applicable as a beam brightness transformer for electron bunches from LWFA and PWFA systems alike. At FACET, the proof-of-concept experiment "E-210: Trojan Horse Plasma Wakefield Acceleration" has recently been approved and is in preparation. At the same time, various LWFA facilities are currently considered to host experiments aiming at stabilizing and boosting the electron bunch output quality via a trojan horse afterburner stage. Since normalized emittance and brightness can be improved by many orders of magnitude, the scheme is an ideal candidate for light sources such as free-electron-lasers and those based on Thomson scattering and betatron radiation alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlled injection and staging are critical elements to the improvement of the stability, quality, and tunability of laser plasma accelerators (LPAs) [1, 2]. This paper will discuss techniques such as colliding pulse [3], density tailoring [4, 5], and ionization injection [6, 7, 8], which have recently allowed for the generation of high-energy femtosecond electron beams with percent-level energy spread and stability, and state-of-the-art emittance. Progress on staged acceleration will also be presented, which promises to further increase beam quality, allow for mapping of the wakefield, and overcome the limit of pump depletion [9]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The controlled transport and imaging of relativistic electron beams from laser plasma accelerators (LPAs) are critical for their diagnostics and applications. Here we present the design and progress in the implementation of the transport and monitoring system for an undulator based electron beam diagnostic. Miniature permanent-magnet quadrupoles (PMQs) are employed to realize controlled transport of the LPA electron beams, and cavity based electron beam position monitors for non-invasive beam position detection. Also presented is PMQ calibration by using LPA electron beams with broadband energy spectrum. The results show promising performance for both transporting and monitoring. With the proper transport system, XUV-photon spectra from THUNDER will provide the momentum distribution of the electron beam with the resolution above what can be achieved by the magnetic spectrometer currently used in the LOASIS facility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electron injection in a laser plasma wakefield accelerator by transverse colliding pulses is studied using two dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulations. It is demonstrated that beams with extremely small transverse emittance can be obtained, injected by the transverse standing wave created by the colliding pulses. Ionization of neutral gas is used to increase the final injection charge but keep the emittance small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generation of GeV-scale electron beams in the plasma channel formed in a gas-filled capillary discharge waveguide is investigated. Electron beams with energies above 900 MeV and with root-mean-square divergence of 3.5 mrad are observed for plasma densities of 2.15 × 1018 cm-3 and a peak input laser power of only 55 TW. The variation of the electron energy with the plasma density is measured and found to exhibit a maximum at plasma densities for which the dephasing length approximately matches the length of the plasma channel. Injection and acceleration of electrons at the relatively low plasma density of 3.2 × 1017 cm-3 is observed. The energy spectra of the generated electron beams are shown to exhibit good shot-to-shot reproducibility, with the observed variations attributable to the measured shot-to-shot jitter of the laser parameters. Two methods for correcting for the effects on the measured energy spectrum of off-axis electron beam propagation are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the code OSIRIS we examine the wakes and particle trapping for non-evolving drivers. We examine how the trapping threshold depends on wake amplitude and wake phase velocity as well on the pseudo-potential. We concentrate on particle beam drivers and vary the driver strength (normalized current), driver shape, spot size and velocity. We compare the phase velocity of the wake to that of the driver beam. We find that as one nears the onset of trapping the phase velocity of the wake can evolve even if the driver does not evolve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the control of electron injection in the cascaded laser wakefield accelerators, optimization of seeding phase and the self-guided propagation of laser pulses between the two accelerators. The maximum acceleration gradient with energy spread narrowing was obtained when the seeding phase and the laser pulse propagation were optimized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near-GeV electron beam generation from a two-stage laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) is reported. Electron injection and acceleration are separated into two distinct LWFA stages and controlled independently from each other by employing two gas cells filled with a He/O2 mixture and pure He gas, respectively. Electrons with a Maxwellian spectrum, generated from the injection stage assisted by ionization-induced injection, are seeded into the acceleration stage with a 3-mm long gas cell and accelerated to produce a 0.8-GeV quasimonoenergetic electron beam for a 45 TW 40 fs laser pulse, corresponding to an acceleration gradient of 187 GV/m. In the injection stage, the produced electron beam properties can be optimized by adjusting the input laser intensity and the plasma density so that quasimonoenergetic electron beams are obtained owing to the self-focusing effects of the laser beam. The ionization-induced injection scheme has been extensively employed for a capillary discharge plasma waveguide to demonstrate channel-guided LWFA beyond 1 GeV. Using a 4-cm capillary made of oxygen containing acrylic resin results in optically guiding 130 TW 55 fs laser pulse that accelerates electrons up to 1.8 GeV in contrast with no electron acceleration in a polyethylene capillary free of oxygen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in and physics of the acceleration of particles using underdense plasma structures driven by lasers were the topics of presentations and discussions in Working Group 1 of the 2010 Advanced Accelerator Concepts Workshop. Such accelerators have demonstrated gradients several orders beyond conventional machines, with quasi-monoenergetic beams at MeV-GeV energies, making them attractive candidates for next generation accelerators. Workshop discussions included advances in control over injection and laser propagation to further improve beam quality and stability, detailed diagnostics and physics models of the acceleration process, radiation generation as a source and diagnostic, and technological tools and upcoming facilities to extend the reach of laser-plasma accelerators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]