High-quality electron beams from a laser wakefield accelerator using plasma-channel guiding

Laser-driven accelerators, in which particles are accelerated by the electric field of a plasma wave (the wakefield) driven by an intense laser, have demonstrated accelerating electric fields of hundreds of GV m(-1) (refs 1-3). These fields are thousands of times greater than those achievable in conventional radio-frequency accelerators, spurring interest in laser accelerators as compact next-generation sources of energetic electrons and radiation. To date, however, acceleration distances have been severely limited by the lack of a controllable method for extending the propagation distance of the focused laser pulse. The ensuing short acceleration distance results in low-energy beams with 100 per cent electron energy spread, which limits potential applications. Here we demonstrate a laser accelerator that produces electron beams with an energy spread of a few per cent, low emittance and increased energy (more than 10(9) electrons above 80 MeV). Our technique involves the use of a preformed plasma density channel to guide a relativistically intense laser, resulting in a longer propagation distance. The results open the way for compact and tunable high-brightness sources of electrons and radiation.     

A laser-plasma accelerator producing monoenergetic electron beams

Particle accelerators are used in a wide variety of fields, ranging from medicine and biology to high-energy physics. The accelerating fields in conventional accelerators are limited to a few tens of MeV m(-1), owing to material breakdown at the walls of the structure. Thus, the production of energetic particle beams currently requires large-scale accelerators and expensive infrastructures. Laser-plasma accelerators have been proposed as a next generation of compact accelerators because of the huge electric fields they can sustain (>100 GeV m(-1)). However, it has been difficult to use them efficiently for applications because they have produced poor-quality particle beams with large energy spreads, owing to a randomization of electrons in phase space. Here we demonstrate that this randomization can be suppressed and that the quality of the electron beams can be dramatically enhanced. Within a length of 3 mm, the laser drives a plasma bubble that traps and accelerates plasma electrons. The resulting electron beam is extremely collimated and quasi-monoenergetic, with a high charge of 0.5 nC at 170 MeV.     

Energy doubling of 42 GeV electrons in a metre-scale plasma wakefield accelerator

The energy frontier of particle physics is several trillion electron volts, but colliders capable of reaching this regime (such as the Large Hadron Collider and the International Linear Collider) are costly and time-consuming to build; it is therefore important to explore new methods of accelerating particles to high energies. Plasma-based accelerators are particularly attractive because they are capable of producing accelerating fields that are orders of magnitude larger than those used in conventional colliders. In these accelerators, a drive beam (either laser or particle) produces a plasma wave (wakefield) that accelerates charged particles. The ultimate utility of plasma accelerators will depend on sustaining ultrahigh accelerating fields over a substantial length to achieve a significant energy gain. Here we show that an energy gain of more than 42 GeV is achieved in a plasma wakefield accelerator of 85 cm length, driven by a 42 GeV electron beam at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). The results are in excellent agreement with the predictions of three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Most of the beam electrons lose energy to the plasma wave, but some electrons in the back of the same beam pulse are accelerated with a field of approximately 52 GV m(-1). This effectively doubles their energy, producing the energy gain of the 3-km-long SLAC accelerator in less than a metre for a small fraction of the electrons in the injected bunch. This is an important step towards demonstrating the viability of plasma accelerators for high-energy physics applications.     

Laser acceleration of quasi-monoenergetic MeV ion beams

Acceleration of particles by intense laser-plasma interactions represents a rapidly evolving field of interest, as highlighted by the recent demonstration of laser-driven relativistic beams of monoenergetic electrons. Ultrahigh-intensity lasers can produce accelerating fields of 10 TV m(-1) (1 TV = 10(12) V), surpassing those in conventional accelerators by six orders of magnitude. Laser-driven ions with energies of several MeV per nucleon have also been produced. Such ion beams exhibit unprecedented characteristics--short pulse lengths, high currents and low transverse emittance--but their exponential energy spectra have almost 100% energy spread. This large energy spread, which is a consequence of the experimental conditions used to date, remains the biggest impediment to the wider use of this technology. Here we report the production of quasi-monoenergetic laser-driven C5+ ions with a vastly reduced energy spread of 17%. The ions have a mean energy of 3 MeV per nucleon (full-width at half-maximum approximately 0.5 MeV per nucleon) and a longitudinal emittance of less than 2 x 10(-6) eV s for pulse durations shorter than 1 ps. Such laser-driven, high-current, quasi-monoenergetic ion sources may enable significant advances in the development of compact MeV ion accelerators, new diagnostics, medical physics, inertial confinement fusion and fast ignition.     

Laser-plasma acceleration of quasi-monoenergetic protons from microstructured targets

Particle acceleration based on high intensity laser systems (a process known as laser-plasma acceleration) has achieved high quality particle beams that compare favourably with conventional acceleration techniques in terms of emittance, brightness and pulse duration. A long-term difficulty associated with laser-plasma acceleration--the very broad, exponential energy spectrum of the emitted particles--has been overcome recently for electron beams. Here we report analogous results for ions, specifically the production of quasi-monoenergetic proton beams using laser-plasma accelerators. Reliable and reproducible laser-accelerated ion beams were achieved by intense laser irradiation of solid microstructured targets. This proof-of-principle experiment serves to illuminate the role of laser-generated plasmas as feasible particle sources. Scalability studies show that, owing to their compact size and reasonable cost, such table-top laser systems with high repetition rates could contribute to the development of new generations of particle injectors that may be suitable for medical proton therapy.     

Monoenergetic beams of relativistic electrons from intense laser-plasma interactions

High-power lasers that fit into a university-scale laboratory can now reach focused intensities of more than 10(19) W cm(-2) at high repetition rates. Such lasers are capable of producing beams of energetic electrons, protons and gamma-rays. Relativistic electrons are generated through the breaking of large-amplitude relativistic plasma waves created in the wake of the laser pulse as it propagates through a plasma, or through a direct interaction between the laser field and the electrons in the plasma. However, the electron beams produced from previous laser-plasma experiments have a large energy spread, limiting their use for potential applications. Here we report high-resolution energy measurements of the electron beams produced from intense laser-plasma interactions, showing that--under particular plasma conditions--it is possible to generate beams of relativistic electrons with low divergence and a small energy spread (less than three per cent). The monoenergetic features were observed in the electron energy spectrum for plasma densities just above a threshold required for breaking of the plasma wave. These features were observed consistently in the electron spectrum, although the energy of the beam was observed to vary from shot to shot. If the issue of energy reproducibility can be addressed, it should be possible to generate ultrashort monoenergetic electron bunches of tunable energy, holding great promise for the future development of 'table-top' particle accelerators.     

Plasma devices to guide and collimate a high density of MeV electrons

The development of ultra-intense lasers has facilitated new studies in laboratory astrophysics and high-density nuclear science, including laser fusion. Such research relies on the efficient generation of enormous numbers of high-energy charged particles. For example, laser-matter interactions at petawatt (10(15) W) power levels can create pulses of MeV electrons with current densities as large as 10(12) A cm(-2). However, the divergence of these particle beams usually reduces the current density to a few times 10(6) A cm(-2) at distances of the order of centimetres from the source. The invention of devices that can direct such intense, pulsed energetic beams will revolutionize their applications. Here we report high-conductivity devices consisting of transient plasmas that increase the energy density of MeV electrons generated in laser-matter interactions by more than one order of magnitude. A plasma fibre created on a hollow-cone target guides and collimates electrons in a manner akin to the control of light by an optical fibre and collimator. Such plasma devices hold promise for applications using high energy-density particles and should trigger growth in charged particle optics.     

电子加速器X射线发射率的MCNP分析

为满足现代X射线应用和设计电子加速器的靶结构和束流参数的需要,采用MCNP4B程序对2～20MeV能量范围内的电子束入射不同厚度钨靶的X射线发射率进行了系统的模拟计算和研究.结果表明在电子能量小于10MeV时,MCNP4B的结果与NCRP-51报告一致,但在10MeV以上,它们间的差别增大.该文结果对早期NCRP-51报告的结果有重要的改进,对于现代产生X射线的电子加速器靶的设计具有参数作用.     

自注入电子束的加速及其对激光尾场的影响

在激光等离子体相互作用中对自注入电子束的加速及其对尾场的影响进行了理论研究.自注入电子束在空泡底部削弱了激光尾波静电场.随着自注入电子束电荷密度的增加,尾波场结构明显改变和空泡纵向变长.随后的鞘层电子须以较高的初始纵向动量才能自注入到不断演化的空泡尾场中.当自注入电子束的库仑场大于空泡内静电场时,该电子束将驱动等离子体尾波场.     

在激光尾场加速中电子密度和初始动量对其自注入及加速的影响

利用哈密顿理论给出了等离子体电子在尾场中捕获及其加速与激光、等离子体参量的关系表达式.讨论了等离子体电子密度和初始动量对电子自注入和加速的影响机制.研究结果表明:静止电子不能被尾场捕获并加速,而具有一定初始动量的电子容易自注入至激光尾场中并得到加速.等离子体密度越小,激光尾场场强越强,电子将获得更大的能量.2维粒子模拟结果与理论结论一致.所得结果对超强超短脉冲激光尾场加速电子的方案具有理论指导意义.     

超短超强激光与等离子体相互作用中质子发射一些研究进展

超短超强激光与等离子体相互作用中得到的高能质子在质子成像、粒子加速、诊断超短超强激光与等离子体相互作用的物理过程、“快点火”和治疗癌症等方面有一定的应用。使得对超短超强激光与等离子体相互作用得到的高能质子的研究成为目前的研究热点。文章综述了产生质子的两种主要加速机制以及在不同实验条件下超短超强激光与等离子体相互作用过程中得到质子的能量、角分布、产额以及相关的原理。     

相向超短超强激光脉冲与中间薄膜靶相互作用产生快电子的模型

该文研究的是两束相向超短超激光脉冲与中间薄膜靶相互作用之间产生快电子的一种简单自洽模型理论，由理论推知，当满足一定条件时，由于激光有质动力与靶电子的谐振作用，在靶表面的电子云层中的电子被强烈加速产生快速高能电子。     

Anti-planetward auroral electron beams at Saturn

Strong discrete aurorae on Earth are excited by electrons, which are accelerated along magnetic field lines towards the planet. Surprisingly, electrons accelerated in the opposite direction have been recently observed. The mechanisms and significance of this anti-earthward acceleration are highly uncertain because only earthward acceleration was traditionally considered, and observations remain limited. It is also unclear whether upward acceleration of the electrons is a necessary part of the auroral process or simply a special feature of Earth's complex space environment. Here we report anti-planetward acceleration of electron beams in Saturn's magnetosphere along field lines that statistically map into regions of aurora. The energy spectrum of these beams is qualitatively similar to the ones observed at Earth, and the energy fluxes in the observed beams are comparable with the energies required to excite Saturn's aurora. These beams, along with the observations at Earth and the barely understood electron beams in Jupiter's magnetosphere, demonstrate that anti-planetward acceleration is a universal feature of aurorae. The energy contained in the beams shows that upward acceleration is an essential part of the overall auroral process.     

Ultrafast generation of magnetic fields in a Schottky diode.

For the development of future magnetic data storage technologies, the ultrafast generation of local magnetic fields is essential. Subnanosecond excitation of the magnetic state has so far been achieved by launching current pulses into micro-coils and micro-striplines and by using high-energy electron beams. Local injection of a spin-polarized current through an all-metal junction has been proposed as an efficient method of switching magnetic elements, and experiments seem to confirm this. Spin injection has also been observed in hybrid ferromagnetic-semiconductor structures. Here we introduce a different scheme for the ultrafast generation of local magnetic fields in such a hybrid structure. The basis of our approach is to optically pump a Schottky diode with a focused, approximately 150-fs laser pulse. The laser pulse generates a current across the semiconductor-metal junction, which in turn gives rise to an in-plane magnetic field. This scheme combines the localization of current injection techniques with the speed of current generation at a Schottky barrier. Specific advantages include the ability to rapidly create local fields along any in-plane direction anywhere on the sample, the ability to scan the field over many magnetic elements and the ability to tune the magnitude of the field with the diode bias voltage.     

Crystalline ion beams

By freezing out the motion between particles in a high-energy storage ring, it should be possible to create threads of ions, offering research opportunities beyond the realm of standard accelerator physics. The usual heating due to intra-beam collisions should completely vanish, giving rise to a state of unprecedented brilliance. Despite a continuous improvement of beam cooling techniques, such as electron cooling and laser cooling, the ultimate goal of beam crystallization has not yet been reached in high-energy storage rings. Electron-cooled dilute beams of highly charged ions show liquid-like order with unique applications. An experiment using laser cooling suggested a reduction of intra-beam heating, although the results were ambiguous. Here we demonstrate the crystallization of laser-cooled Mg+ beams circulating in the radiofrequency quadrupole storage ring PALLAS at a velocity of 2,800 m s-1, which corresponds to a beam energy of 1 eV. A sudden collapse of the transverse beam size and the low longitudinal velocity spread clearly indicate the phase transition. The continuous ring-shaped crystalline beam shows exceptional stability, surviving for more than 3,000 revolutions without cooling.     

Single-pulse coherently controlled nonlinear Raman spectroscopy and microscopy

Molecular vibrations have oscillation periods that reflect the molecular structure, and are hence being used as a spectroscopic fingerprint for detection and identification. At present, all nonlinear spectroscopy schemes use two or more laser beams to measure such vibrations. The availability of ultrashort (femtosecond) optical pulses with durations shorter than typical molecular vibration periods has enabled the coherent excitation of molecular vibrations using a single pulse. Here we perform single-pulse vibrational spectroscopy on several molecules in the liquid phase, where both the excitation and the readout processes are performed by the same pulse. The main difficulty with single-pulse spectroscopy is that all vibrational levels with energies within the pulse bandwidth are excited. We achieve high spectral resolution, nearly two orders of magnitude better than the pulse bandwidth, by using quantum coherent control techniques. By appropriately modulating the spectral phase of the pulse we are able to exploit the quantum interference between multiple paths to selectively populate a given vibrational level, and to probe this population using the same pulse. This scheme, using a single broadband laser source, is particularly attractive for nonlinear microscopy applications, as we demonstrate by constructing a coherent anti-Stokes Raman (CARS) microscope operating with a single laser beam.     

激光极化态对激光等离子体中电子所受有质动力的影响

从理论上研究了线极化和圆极化超短超强激光脉冲对激光等离子体中电子所受有质动力的影响，得到了相应的解析表达式；通过单电子模型，比较了两种极化态的激光电场有质动力对电子纵向速度的影响．结果表明，线极化激光电场有质动力由于其振荡分量的存在要比圆极化对电子的加热更有效；电子因受振荡分量的作用而剧烈振荡，形成一个很强的纵向振荡静电场，产生静电场有质动力．     

对1MeV电子束的卫星模型抗辐射涂层设计

讨论了1 MeV电子束入射情况下卫星模型的抗辐射涂层设计,采用M-C(蒙特卡罗)方法,使用PENELOPE软件包模拟1 MeV电子束入射多层平面模型及小球模型的实验,并编写一系列输入文件、材料文件、几何文件等用户程序,观察在平面及小球各层内的能量沉积情况以及深度剂量分布,以分析不同抗辐射涂层材料及结构对空间辐射环境的抗辐射效果.     

Ultra-relativistic electrons in Jupiter's radiation belts

Ground-based observations have shown that Jupiter is a two-component source of microwave radio emission: thermal atmospheric emission and synchrotron emission from energetic electrons spiralling in Jupiter's magnetic field. Later in situ measurements confirmed the existence of Jupiter's high-energy electron-radiation belts, with evidence for electrons at energies up to 20[?]MeV. Although most radiation belt models predict electrons at higher energies, adiabatic diffusion theory can account only for energies up to around 20[?]MeV. Unambiguous evidence for more energetic electrons is lacking. Here we report observations of 13.8[?]GHz synchrotron emission that confirm the presence of electrons with energies up to 50[?]MeV; the data were collected during the Cassini fly-by of Jupiter. These energetic electrons may be repeatedly accelerated through an interaction with plasma waves, which can transfer energy into the electrons. Preliminary comparison of our data with model results suggests that electrons with energies of less than 20[?]MeV are more numerous than previously believed.     

锥形飞秒强激光等离子体中Compton散射的能量转换

应用相对论性电子与多光子集团非弹性碰撞模型和经典相对论电动力学理论,分析、计算了锥形飞秒强激光等离子体中多光子非线性Compton散射的能量转换.发现等离子体中的耦合激光场会引起能量转换效率的振荡,而静电场会降低能量转换效率.当高能电子与光子发生双光子非线性Compton散射时,电子能获得最大的能量转换效率.