Carrier-envelope phase controlled dynamics of relativistic electron beams in a laser-wakefield accelerator

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that controlling the carrier-envelope phase of near-single cycle laser pulses in a laser-wakefield accelerator significantly influences electron beam properties, including pointing stability and charge, through phase-dependent injection mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces the use of carrier-envelope phase control in laser-wakefield acceleration with near-single cycle pulses, revealing phase-dependent electron injection effects.

Findings

Electron beam pointing varies with carrier-envelope phase.

Beam charge fluctuates by 30% depending on phase.

Simulations show off-axis injection due to oscillating bubble.

Abstract

In laser-wakefield acceleration, an ultra-intense laser pulse is focused into an underdense plasma in order to accelerate electrons to relativistic velocities. In most cases, the pulses consist of multiple optical cycles and the interaction is well described in the framework of the ponderomotive force where only the envelope of the laser has to be considered. But when using single-cycle pulses, the ponderomotive approximation breaks down, and the actual waveform of the laser has to be taken into account. In this paper, we use near-single cycle laser pulses to drive a laser-wakefield accelerator. We observe variations of the electron beam pointing on the order of 10 mrad in the polarisation direction, as well as 30% variations of the beam charge, locked to the value of the controlled laser carrier-envelope phase, in both nitrogen and helium plasma. Those findings are explained through particle-in-cell simulations indicating that low-emittance, ultra-short electron bunches are periodically injected off-axis by the transversally oscillating bubble associated with the slipping carrier-envelope phase.