Search

Matched beam loading in laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA), characterizing the state of flattening of the accelerating electric field along the bunch, leads to the minimization of energy spread at high bunch charges. Here, we demonstrate by independently controlling injected charge and accelerating gradients, using the self-truncated ionization injection scheme, that minimal energy spread coincides with a reduction of the normalized beam divergence. With the simultaneous confirmation of a constant beam radius at the plasma exit, deduced from betatron radiation spectroscopy, we attribute this effect to the reduction of chromatic betatron decoherence. Thus, beam loaded LWFA enables highest longitudinal and transverse phase space densities.

In this article we revise the calibration measurements of different scintillation screens commonly used for the detection of relativistic electrons, extending previous reference work towards higher charge density and new types of screens. Electron peak charge densities up to 10 nC/mm² were provided by focused picosecond-long electron beams delivered by the ELBE linear accelerator at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. At low charge densities, a linear scintillation response was found, followed by the onset of saturation in the range of nC/mm². The absolute calibration factor (photons/sr/pC) in this linear regime was measured to be almost a factor of 2 lower than reported by Buck et al. retrospectively implying a higher charge in charge measurements performed with the old calibration. A good agreement was found with the results by Glinec et al.. Furthermore long-term irradiation tests with an integrated dose of approximately 50 nC/mm² indicate a significant decrease of the scintillation efficiency over time. Finally, in order to enable the transfer of the absolute calibration between laboratories, a new constant reference has been developed.

Laser wakefield accelerators have the capability to produce few-femtosecond, high charge and high peak current beams in the GeV energy range within only a few centimeters of acceleration length. The unique beam properties from these novel concept accelerators can be employed to explore new concepts such as beam driven plasma acceleration or driving superradiant light sources, which require peak currents beyond those found in current conventional accelerators. Here, we report on robust generation of high quality electron beams at unprecedented high peak currents. The self-truncated ionization injection scheme is employed, enabling a precise control over the amount of injected electrons with charges up to 0.5 nC (FWHM) at a quasi-monoenergetic peak. Minimization of energy spread is reached by optimizing the beam loading condition1,2. An ultrafast single-shot electron beam diagnostic based on Coherent Optical Transition Radiation reveals ~10 femtosecond bunch lengths yielding peak currents of over 10 kA. Such peak currents are one to two orders of magnitude larger than those found in conventional RF accelerators. Control of the energy spread of LWFA beams with the beam loading condition together with the scaling to high peak currents paves the road for driving superradiant lights sources and enables the first proof-of-principle experiment of a hybrid laser- to beam-driven plasma wakefield accelerator in an effort to further improve beam quality found in plasma accelerators. 1 J.P. Couperus et al., “Demonstration of a beam loaded nanocoulomb-class laser wakefield accelerator”, Nature Communication, 8, 487 (2017) 2 A. Irman et al., “Improved performance of laser wakefield acceleration by tailored self-truncation ionization injection”, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 60, 044015 (2018)

We report on tailoring ionization-induced injection in laser wakefield acceleration so that the electron injection process is self-truncating following the evolution of the plasma bubble. Robust generation of high-quality electron beams with shot-to-shot fluctuations of the beam parameters better than 10% is presented in detail. As a novelty, the scheme was found to enable well-controlled yet simple tuning of the injected charge while preserving acceleration conditions and beam quality. Quasimonoenergetic electron beams at several 100MeV energy and 15% relative energy spread were routinely demonstrated with a total charge of the monoenergetic feature reaching 0.5 nC. Finally these unique beam parameters, suggesting unprecedented peak currents of several 10 kA, are systematically related to published data on alternative injection schemes.

Laser-plasma wakefield acceleration is capable of producing quasi-monoenergetic electron beams reaching into the GeV range with few-femtoseconds bunch duration. Scaling the charge to the nanocoulomb range would yield hundreds of kiloamperes peak-current and stimulate the next generation of radiation sources covering high-field THz, high-brightness X-ray and γ-ray sources, compact FELs and laboratory-size beam-driven plasma accelerators. Laser-plasma accelerators generating such high currents operate in the beam loading regime where the accelerating field is strongly modified by the self-fields of the injected bunch, improving the final beam quality if appropriately controlled. Here we experimentally investigate the effects of beam loading at the theoretically predicted limit by loading unprecedented charges of about 0.5 nC within a mono-energetic peak into the first plasma cavity. As the energy balance is reached, the final energy spread is minimized. We show that the beam quality is maintained up to an estimated peak-current of 50 kA, an order of magnitude larger than in state-of-the-art conventional and laser-plasma accelerators.

This work reports on the calibration of scintillating screens for diagnoses of high-charge density electron beams origination from laser plasma accelerators (LPA). Our setup at the conventional ELBE accelerator is cross-calibrated with an integrating current transformer (ICT) and allows for calibration over a large charge density range, thus enabling the study both the linear and non-linear scintillating screen response, as well as long-term stability tests of the screens. In contrast to previous works, the calibration presented here is performed under conditions with a close mimic to real experimental LPA conditions. A linear response of the scintillator to the applied electron charge was found, followed by a saturation process starting in the range of nC/mm^2. Mimicking a 1-Hz LPA, long–term stability tests showed a significant decrease of the scintillation efficiency over time. Finally, we present a method where a LED-based constant light source provides an easy method for absolute calibration of charge diagnostic systems at LPAs. This method eliminates many potential error sources existing in currently used methods and enables the transfer of absolute charge calibrations between laboratories.

Scintillation screens are generally used as the electron beam diagnostics in Laser Wakefield Accelerators. We present an absolute charge calibration of the electron detector i.e. a scintillating screen with a layer of powdered rare earth phosphor (Gd2O2S:Tb). The calibration was designed to investigate the absolute light/charge–ratio and saturation effects of various screens used in current laser–electron accelerators. The scintillation screens show a linear photon response to the applied charge up to an upper boundary caused by saturation effects. We also report about degeneration studies of some of these screens which were excited with a similar condition compared to Wakefield experiments.

Laser wakefield accelerators (LWFA) can potentially generate high-peak current electron beams at the order of a few tens of kiloAmperes which are very attractive as drivers for compact secondary radiation sources ranging from THz up togamma-ray or as drivers for beam driven wakefield accelerators (PWFA). The phenomenon of beam loading affects the amount of trapped charge inside the plasma cavity while influencing the final beam parameters, i.e., transverse emittance and maximum attainable energy and spread. We experimentally investigate these effects in the self-truncated ionization injection scheme (STII) by loading several hundreds of pC of charge into the wakefield within a monoenergetic bunch. We explore the influence of beam loading on electron energy, energy spread and beam divergence. We show that beam quality is maintained up to an estimated peak-current of 30 kA, which is an order of magnitude higher than can be reached in current state-of-the-art conventional electron accelerators.

The features of betatron radiation emitted from accelerated electrons in a laser-wakefield accelerator can help as a diagnostic tool to investigate their dynamics during the acceleration. Here we describe our recent LWFA experiments deploying the ionization induced injection technique carried out with the Draco Ti:Sapphire laser. Equipped with an 2D spectroscopy technique based on single pixel absorption events, we analyze the spectral features of the emitted betatron radiation for a set of different plasma densities. Combined with electron spectra acquired at the same time, the betatron source size for a set of different electron bunches is deduced.

Thomson scattering of intense laser pulses from relativistic electrons not only allows for the generation of bright x-ray pulses but also serves as a laboratory for strong field physics and nonlinear interactions. We present high resolution angle and energy resolved characterization of laser-Thomson scattered X-rays generated by colliding picosecond electron bunches from the superconducting ELBE linear accelerator with counter-propagating laser pulses from the 150 TW DRACO Ti:Sapphire laser system. The measurements quantify the influence of the two major interaction parameters, namely laser intensity and electron beam emittance, on the spectral bandwidth of the scattered photons. We also record and spectrally resolve the increasing redshift of the fundamental of the radiation, the rise of harmonics as well as the gain in total photon flux for increasing laser strength. Numerical simulations of both studies performed with the classical radiation solver CLARA show good agreement, benchmarking this code with the experiments.

Thomson scattering of intense laser pulses from relativistic electrons not only allows for the generation of bright x-ray pulses but also serves as a laboratory for strong field physics and nonlinear interactions. We present high resolution angle and energy resolved characterization of laser-Thomson scattered X-rays generated by colliding picosecond electron bunches from the superconducting ELBE linear accelerator with counter-propagating laser pulses from the 150 TW DRACO Ti:Sapphire laser system. The measurements quantify the influence of the two major interaction parameters, namely laser intensity and electron beam emittance, on the spectral bandwidth of the scattered photons. The experimental range of normalized laser intensities (a0 from 0.15 to 1.7) covers the transition region from the linear to the nonlinear regime of the Thomson scattering interaction. In this parameter scan, we record and spectrally resolve the increasing redshift and broadening of the fundamental of the radiation, the rise of hamonics as well as the gain in total photon flux. In the second study, we vary the interaction geometry, which allows for selecting only parts of the electron bunch to interact with the laser. By this means, we control the ensemble of interaction angles which is measured by the effective emittance of the electron beam. The bandwidth of the Thomson spectrum increases with the effective emittance, which can be used as a tuning knob for shaping the Thomson spectrum. Numerical simulations of both studies performed with the classical radiation solver CLARA show good agreement, benchmarking this code with the experiments.

Laser-plasma wakefield accelerators have shown generation of quasi-monoenergetic (QME) electron bunches with reaching to multiple GeVs range. Scaling the accelerated charge within the QME bunch from pC to nC is one of the important issues for many applications. This high charge naturally brings laser wakefield in the so-called beam loading regime, which can deteriorate the beam quality if not properly controlled. In our recent experiments carried out with the Draco Ti:Sapphire laser we explore the influence of beam loading on the transverse electron beam dynamics. Utilizing 2D x-ray spectroscopy technique we deduced the electron beam size close the plasma exit by analyzing the x-ray spectrum emitted as relativistic electrons perform betatron oscillation during acceleration. Simultaneously electron spectra and divergence were recorded at a charge calibrated point-to-point imaging electron spectrometer. We show that as the electron beam size increases with charge, the beam divergence reaches a minimum value at the optimum loading condition where, at the same time, the energy spread reaches a minimum. We anticipate that this result will open a new path for beam optimization in high charge laser wakefield accelerators.

The design of an electron beam final focus system (FFS) aiming for high-flux laser-Thomson backscattering X-ray sources at ELBE is presented. A telescope system consisting of four permanent magnet based quadrupoles was found to have significantly less chromatic aberrations than a quadrupole doublet or triplet as commonly used. Focusing properties like the position of the focal plane and the spot size are retained for electron beam energies between 20 and 30 MeV by adjusting the position of the quadrupoles individually on a motorized stage. The desired ultra-short electron bunches require an increased relative energy spread up to a few percent and, thus, second order chromatic effects must be taken into account. We also present the design and test results of the permanent magnet quadrupoles. Adjustable shunts allow for correction of the field strength and compensation of deviations in the permanent magnet material. For a beam emittance of 13 mm mrad, we predict focal spot sizes of about 40 μm (rms) and divergences of about 10 mrad using the FFS.