Controlled acceleration of GeV electron beams in an all-optical plasma waveguide

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel method for guiding laser pulses and controlling electron injection in plasma accelerators, achieving reliable acceleration of high-quality electron beams up to 1.1 GeV with a 50 TW laser.

Contribution

It introduces an all-optical plasma waveguide combined with controlled injection, enabling stable high-energy electron beam production.

Findings

Achieved electron energies up to 1.1 GeV.

Demonstrated stable and high-quality electron beams.

Enhanced guiding and control techniques for laser-plasma accelerators.

Abstract

Laser-plasma accelerators produce electric fields of the order of 100 GV/m, more than 1000 times larger than radio-frequency accelerators. Thanks to this unique field strength, they appear as a promising path to generate electron beams beyond the TeV, for high-energy physics. Yet, large electric fields are of little benefit if they are not maintained over a long distance. It is therefore of the utmost importance to guide the ultra-intense laser pulse that drives the accelerator. Reaching very high energies is equally useless if the properties of the electron beam change completely shot to shot. While present state-of-the-art laser-plasma accelerators can already separately address guiding and control challenges by tweaking the plasma structures, the production of beams combining high quality and high energy is yet to be demonstrated. Here we use a new approach for guiding the laser, and combined it with a controlled injection technique to demonstrate the reliable and efficient acceleration of high-quality electron beams up to 1.1 GeV, from a 50 TW-class laser.