Electron source based on emergence of self-injected electron bunch at plasma wakefield excitation by a TW laser pulse

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates through simulation that plasma wakefield acceleration driven by a TW laser pulse can produce self-injected electron bunches suitable for advanced laser acceleration experiments, highlighting a promising electron source.

Contribution

The study introduces a simulation-based analysis of self-injected electron bunch generation using a TW laser pulse in plasma wakefield acceleration, with optimized plasma profiles for higher energy output.

Findings

Self-injected relativistic electron bunches can be generated in plasma wakefield acceleration.

Homogeneous and Gaussian plasma profiles influence the energy of the injected bunches.

Simulation results support the potential for these electron bunches to be used in further laser acceleration experiments.

Abstract

Wakefield acceleration methods are known due to some their advantages. The main of them is the high accelerating gradient up to several teravolts per meter. In the paper another important advantage is concluded to the possibility of using a wakefield accelerator as a source of electrons by means of obtaining self injected bunches and their accelera-tion. The result is the simulation of the process of plasma wakefield excitation by a laser pulse with an energy of tens of mJ and a power of 1-2 TW for obtaining the promising electron source. Homogeneous and Gaussian plasma profiles were investigated and compared to increase the energy of the self-injected bunches. The laser parameters were taken that corresponded to the parameters of the laser setup in the Institute of Plasma Electronics and New Methods of Acceleration of the National Scientific Center "Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology". Based on the results of the simulation, the possibility of obtaining relativistic self-injected bunches that can be used for further laser acceler-ation experiments, including dielectric laser acceleration, was demonstrated.