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A laser wakefield acceleration facility using SG-II petawatt laser system
- Source :
- The Review of scientific instruments. 93(3)
- Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) using PW-class laser pulses generally requires cm-scale laser–plasma interaction Rayleigh length, which can be realized by focusing such pulses inside a long underdense plasma with a large f-number focusing optic. Here, we present a new PW-based LWFA instrument at the SG-II 5 PW laser facility, which employs f/23 focusing. The setup also adapted an online probing of the plasma density via Nomarski interferometry using a probe laser beam having 30 fs pulse duration. By focusing 1-PW, 30-fs laser pulses down to a focal spot of 230 µm, the peak laser intensity reached a mild-relativistic level of 2.6 × 1018 W/cm2, a level modest for standard LWFA experiments. Despite the large aspect ratio of >25:1 (transverse to longitudinal dimensions) of the laser pulse, electron beams were observed in our experiment only when the laser pulse experienced relativistic self-focusing at high gas-pressure thresholds, corresponding to plasma densities higher than 3 × 1018 cm−3.
- Subjects :
- Instrumentation
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10897623
- Volume :
- 93
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Review of scientific instruments
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....26fcb051608881f8c6eac6e69c8a12c2