External injection of an electron bunch at an angle into a laser wakefield

A low energy electron bunch, with an energy of a few MeV, is generated by a radio frequency (rf) photocathode linac and injected at a small angle directly
behind a high-intensity laser pulse in a plasma with some offset relative to the
laser propagation axis. This causes the electron bunch to enter the wakefield
from the transverse direction. The velocity of the electron bunch is lower than the group velocity of the laser pulse. Thus, the electron bunch slips backward in the frame moving with the pulse. When the longitudinally accelerating and transversely focusing forces of the generated wakefield are sufficiently strong (and when other parameters are suitably chosen) a large fraction of the injected bunch might be trapped, compressed and accelerated in the wakefield. https://sites.google.com/site/laserwakefieldacceleration

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• plasma
• laser
• wakefield
• accelerator
• physics
• external
• injection