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Laser wakefield acceleration of electrons from a density-modulated plasma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2014

D.N. Gupta*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
K. Gopal
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
I.H. Nam
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Photon Science, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, Korea
V.V. Kulagin
Affiliation:
Sternberg Astronomical Institute of Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
H. Suk
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Photon Science, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, Korea
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: D.N. Gupta, Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110 007, India. E-mail: dngupta@physics.du.ac.in

Abstract

This research reports the increased electron energy gain from laser wakefield acceleration in density-modulated plasma with an external magnetic field. Periodic plasma density- modulation can excite higher harmonics of different phase velocities of fundamental wakefield that can assist in improving the self-trapping of pre-accelerated electrons to accelerate them for higher energy. Furthermore, the applied magnetic field assisted self-injection can also contribute in electron energy enhancement during the acceleration. The physical mechanism is described with a theoretical formulation for this scheme. Results of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are reported to understand the proposed idea.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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References

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