Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 22 November 2002:
Vol. 298. no. 5598, pp. 1596 - 1600
DOI: 10.1126/science.1076782
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research Articles

Electron Acceleration by a Wake Field Forced by an Intense Ultrashort Laser Pulse

V. Malka,1* S. Fritzler,1 E. Lefebvre,2 M.-M. Aleonard,3 F. Burgy,1 J.-P. Chambaret,1 J.-F. Chemin,3 K. Krushelnick,4 G. Malka,3 S. P. D. Mangles,4 Z. Najmudin,4 M. Pittman,1 J.-P. Rousseau,1 J.-N. Scheurer,3 B. Walton,4 A. E. Dangor4

Plasmas are an attractive medium for the next generation of particle accelerators because they can support electric fields greater than several hundred gigavolts per meter. These accelerating fields are generated by relativistic plasma waves--space-charge oscillations--that can be excited when a high-intensity laser propagates through a plasma. Large currents of background electrons can then be trapped and subsequently accelerated by these relativistic waves. In the forced laser wake field regime, where the laser pulse length is of the order of the plasma wavelength, we show that a gain in maximum electron energy of up to 200 megaelectronvolts can be achieved, along with an improvement in the quality of the ultrashort electron beam.

1 Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée, École Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées, École Polytechnique, CNRS, UMR 7639, 91761 Palaiseau, France.
2 Département de Physique Théorique et Appliquée, CEA/DAM Ile-de-France, BP 12, 91680 Bruyères-le-Châtel, France.
3 Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires Bordeaux Gradignan, IN2P3-Université de Bordeaux I, 33175 Gradignan, France.
4 Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, London SW7 2BZ, UK.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: victor.malka{at}ensta.fr

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Laser guiding for GeV laser-plasma accelerators.
W. Leemans, E. Esarey, C. Geddes, C. Schroeder, and C. Toth (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc A 364, 585-600
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Laser-plasma accelerator: status and perspectives.
V Malka, J Faure, Y Glinec, and A.F Lifschitz (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc A 364, 601-610
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The generation of mono-energetic electron beams from ultrashort pulse laser-plasma interactions.
S.P.D Mangles, K Krushelnick, Z Najmudin, M.S Wei, B Walton, A Gopal, A.E Dangor, S Fritzler, C.D Murphy, A.G.R Thomas, et al. (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc A 364, 663-677
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Radiation sources based on laser-plasma interactions.
D.A Jaroszynski, R Bingham, E Brunetti, B Ersfeld, J Gallacher, B van der Geer, R Issac, S.P Jamison, D Jones, M de Loos, et al. (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc A 364, 689-710
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Particle Therapy Co-operative Oncology Group (PTCOG 40) Meeting, Institute Curie 2004.
B Jones and I Rosenberg (2005)
Br. J. Radiol. 78, 99-102
   Full Text »    PDF »
Applications for Nuclear Phenomena Generated by Ultra-Intense Lasers.
K. W. D. Ledingham, P. McKenna, and R. P. Singhal (2003)
Science 300, 1107-1111
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)