Electron Acceleration in Carbon Nanotubes

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates through numerical simulations that structured carbon nanotube targets can enable electron acceleration with unprecedented charge and gradients exceeding 1 TeV/m, using infrared lasers in a solid-state plasma context.

Contribution

First numerical demonstration of electron acceleration via self-injection in a wakefield bubble driven by an infrared laser in structured CNT targets.

Findings

Electron bunches with hundreds of pC charge can be self-injected.

Acceleration gradients exceed 1 TeV/m.

Charge and gradient figures surpass those in gaseous plasma LWFA.

Abstract

Wakefield wavelengths associated with solid-state plasmas greatly limit the accelerating length. An alternative approach employs 2D carbon-based nanomaterials, like graphene or carbon nanotubes (CNTs), configured into structured targets. These nanostructures are designed with voids or low-density regions to effectively reduce the overall plasma density. This reduction enables the use of longer-wavelength lasers and also extends the plasma wavelength and the acceleration length. In this study, we present, to our knowledge, the first numerical demonstration of electron acceleration via self-injection into a wakefield bubble driven by an infrared laser pulse in structured CNT targets, similar to the behavior observed in gaseous plasmas for LWFA in the nonlinear (or bubble) regime. Using the PIConGPU code, bundles of CNTs are modeled in a 3D geometry as 25 nm-thick carbon tubes with an initial density of $10^{22}$ cm$^{-3}$. The carbon plasma is ionized by a three-cycle, 800 nm wavelength laser pulse with a peak intensity of $10^{21}$ W cm$^{-2}$, achieving an effective plasma density of $10^{20}$ cm$^{-3}$. The same laser also drives the wakefield bubble, responsible for the electron self-injection and acceleration. Simulation results indicate that fs-long electron bunches with hundreds of pC charge can be self-injected and accelerated at gradients exceeding 1~TeV$/$m. Both charge and accelerating gradient figures are unprecedented when compared with LWFA in gaseous plasma.