Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Li, Zhengyan
• Tsai, Hai-En
• Zhang, Xi
• Pai, Chih-Hao
• Chang, Yen-Yu
• Zgadzaj, Rafal
• Wang, Xiaoming
• Khudik, V
• Shvets, G
• Downer, M C

Titel

Single-shot visualization of evolving laser wakefields using an all-optical streak camera

Ist Teil von

• Physical review letters, 2014-08, Vol.113 (8), p.085001-085001, Article 085001

Ort / Verlag

United States: American Physical Society

Erscheinungsjahr

2014

Quelle

APS

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• We visualize ps-time-scale evolution of an electron density bubble--a wake structure created in atmospheric density plasma by an intense ultrashort laser pulse--from the phase "streak" that the bubble imprints onto a probe pulse that crosses its path obliquely. Phase streaks, recovered in one shot using frequency-domain interferometric techniques, reveal the formation, propagation, and coalescence of the bubble within a 3 mm long ionized helium gas target. 3D particle-in-cell simulations validate the observed density-dependent bubble evolution, and correlate it with the generation of a quasimonoenergetic ∼ 100 MeV electron beam. The results provide a basis for understanding optimized electron acceleration at a plasma density n(e) ≈ 2 × 10(19) cm(-3), inefficient acceleration at lower density, and dephasing limits at higher density.