Resonant phase matching by oblique illumination of a dielectric laser accelerator

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that by adjusting the laser incidence angle, resonant phase matching in dielectric laser accelerators can be achieved even when operating away from the structure's original design parameters, enabling more flexible acceleration schemes.

Contribution

It introduces a method of resonant phase matching through oblique laser illumination, allowing DLAs to operate effectively off their design point.

Findings

Resonant phase matching recovered with up to 30 mrad laser angle detuning.

Maximized energy modulation of a 6 MeV electron beam in an 800 nm period structure.

Phase profiles in the accelerating field can vary significantly period-to-period.

Abstract

In dielectric laser-driven accelerators (DLA), careful tuning of drive-laser wavelength and structure periodicity is typically required in order to hit the resonant condition and match the phase velocity of the accelerating wave to the electron beam velocity. By aggressively detuning (up to 30 mrad) the angle of incidence of the drive laser on a double grating DLA structure, we show that it is possible to recover resonant phase matching and maximize the energy modulation of an externally injected 6 MeV beam in a 800 nm period structure driven using a 780 nm laser. These results show that it is possible to power DLA structures away from their design working point, and excite accelerating fields in the gap with phase profiles that change by a relatively large amount period-to-period. This flexibility is a key feature of DLAs and a critical element in the realization of phase-modulation based ponderomotive focusing to demonstrate MeV energy gain and large capture in a single DLA stage.