Chirp-controlled plasma wake excitation by an exponential laser pulse in underdense plasma

TL;DR

This paper investigates how exponential laser pulse chirping enhances plasma wakefield excitation in underdense plasma, combining analytical models with PIC simulations to demonstrate improved acceleration fields.

Contribution

It introduces exponential chirping as a novel method to control and enhance plasma wakefield amplitudes, validated through analytical and simulation approaches.

Findings

Exponential chirping yields higher wakefield amplitudes than polynomial or unchirped pulses.

Positively chirped pulses generate peak fields exceeding 58 GV/m.

Chirping modifies wakefield structure, leading to increased electron momentum gain.

Abstract

The excitation of plasma wakefields driven by chirped laser pulses is investigated using a reduced relativistic fluid Poisson model supported by fully relativistic particle in cell (PIC) simulations. The study considers exponential, linear, quadratic, and unchirped phase-modulated laser drivers propagating in an underdense plasma. Numerical solutions of the governing equations demonstrate that exponential chirping produces enhanced wakefield amplitudes compared to polynomial and unchirped cases due to nonlinear phase variation across the pulse envelope. The analytical predictions are validated using quasi cylindrical PIC simulations performed under identical plasma and laser parameters. The simulations reveal strong chirp dependent wakefield modification, with positively chirped pulses generating peak accelerating fields exceeding 58 GV per m, accompanied by pronounced density compression and enhanced electron momentum gain. These results demonstrate that exponential chirping provides an effective mechanism for controlling wakefield strength and improving plasma based particle acceleration.