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Self-induced ionization injection LWFA and generation of sub-fs electron bunches with few-cycle sub-TW laser pulses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2019

D. Papp Open the ORCID record for D. Papp [Opens in a new window] ,
N.A.M. Hafz  and
C. Kamperidis
D. Papp*
Affiliation:
ELI-ALPS, ELI-HU Non-Profit Ltd., Dugonics tér 13, Szeged 6720, Hungary
N.A.M. Hafz
Affiliation:
ELI-ALPS, ELI-HU Non-Profit Ltd., Dugonics tér 13, Szeged 6720, Hungary Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Rd, Minhang, Shanghai 200240, China
C. Kamperidis
Affiliation:
ELI-ALPS, ELI-HU Non-Profit Ltd., Dugonics tér 13, Szeged 6720, Hungary
*
Author for correspondence: D. Papp, ELI-ALPS, ELI-HU Non-Profit Ltd., Dugonics tér 13, Szeged 6720, Hungary. E-mail: daniel.papp@eli-alps.hu
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Abstract

We investigate an ionization injection scheme in a “weakly” non-linear regime of a wakefield, driven by sub-TW, few-cycle laser pulses in a single-stage, high-Z gas. This medium simultaneously provides the background wake fluid electrons from its lower ionization states and the necessary dephased electrons from its higher ionization states. Two dimensional-particle-in-cell simulations show the generation of relativistic electron beamlets having up to 15 MeV peak energy, with a narrow energy-spread and sub-fs duration. Since the currently-available sub-TW, few-cycle laser systems operate at kHz repetition rates, the presented scheme is capable of producing kHz attosecond electron bunches and their associated radiations which can find unique applications, for instance, in attosecond diffraction and microscopy.

Keywords

Laser wakefield accelerationparticle-in-cell simulationsub-fs electron bunches
Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , June 2019 , pp. 165 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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