Optical Control of transverse Motion of Ionization injected Electrons in Laser Plasma Wakefield

TL;DR

This paper presents an all-optical technique to control the transverse motion of ionization-injected electron beams in laser plasma wakefields by shaping the laser focal spot, enabling tailored electron trajectories and potential applications in generating orbital angular momentum in synchrotron radiation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of controlling electron beam transverse motion through laser focal spot shaping, validated by experiments and 3D-PIC simulations.

Findings

Changing laser spot shape alters electron beam shape.

Electron trajectories shift from undulation to helix.

Method enables control of electron beam properties for advanced radiation sources.

Abstract

We demonstrate an all-optical method for controlling the transverse motion of ionization injected electron beam, by utilizing the transversely asymmetrical wakefield via adjusting the shape of the laser focal spot. When the laser spot shape is changed from the circular to the obliquely elliptic in experiment, the electron beam shape becomes from elliptic to three different shapes. The 3D-PIC simulation results agree well with experiment, and it shows the trajectories of the accelerated electrons change from undulation to helix. Such an all-optical method could be useful for convenient control of the transverse motion of an electron beam which results in synchrotron radiation with orbit angular momentum.