Benchmarking of hydrodynamic plasma waveguides for multi-GeV laser-driven electron acceleration

TL;DR

This paper provides comprehensive experimental and simulation-based characterization of hydrodynamic plasma waveguides created by optical field ionization, crucial for advancing multi-GeV and future 100 GeV laser plasma accelerators.

Contribution

It offers the most complete experimental and simulation data to date, accurately modeling Bessel beam interactions and plasma profiles for accelerator design.

Findings

Good agreement between simulations and experiments

Realistic mode structure determination for accelerator design

Enhanced understanding of plasma density evolution

Abstract

Hydrodynamic plasma waveguides initiated by optical field ionization (OFI) have recently become a key component of multi-GeV laser wakefield accelerators. Here, we present the most complete and accurate experimental and simulation-based characterization to date, applicable both to current multi-GeV experiments and future 100 GeV-scale laser plasma accelerators. Crucial to the simulations is the correct modeling of intense Bessel beam interaction with meter-scale gas targets, the results of which are used as initial conditions for hydrodynamic simulations. The simulations are in good agreement with our experiments measuring evolving plasma and neutral hydrogen density profiles using two-color short pulse interferometry, enabling realistic determination of the guided mode structure for application to laser-driven plasma accelerator design.