Generation of High Brightness Electron Beams via Ionization Induced Injection by Transverse Colliding Lasers in a Beam-Driven Plasma Wakefield Accelerator

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates via 3D PIC simulations that ionization injection using colliding transverse lasers in a plasma wakefield accelerator can produce ultra-bright, ultra-short electron beams with very low emittance and high current.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel ionization injection method with colliding lasers that significantly reduces emittance growth and enhances beam brightness in plasma wakefield accelerators.

Findings

Produced electron bunches with 8 fs duration and 0.4 kA current

Achieved normalized emittance of 8.5 and 6 nm in two planes

Brightness exceeds 1.7×10^{19} A rad^{-2} m^{-2}

Abstract

The production of ultra-bright electron bunches using ionization injection triggered by two transversely colliding laser pulses inside a beam-driven plasma wake is examined via three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The relatively low intensity lasers are polarized along the wake axis and overlap with the wake for a very short time. The result is that the residual momentum of the ionized electrons in the transverse plane of the wake is much reduced and the injection is localized along the propagation axis of the wake. This minimizes both the initial 'thermal' emittance and the emittance growth due to transverse phase mixing. 3D PIC simulations show that ultra-short (around 8 fs) high-current (0.4 kA) electron bunches with a normalized emittance of 8.5 and 6 nm in the two planes respectively and a brightness greater than 1.7*10e19 A rad-2 m-2 can be obtained for realistic parameters.