Observation of Electron Energies Beyond the Linear Dephasing Limit from a Laser-Excited Relativistic Plasma Wave

1998210 citationsJournal Article

Authors

D. Gordon · University of California, Los Angeles

K. C. Tzeng · University of California, Los Angeles

C. E. Clayton · University of California, Los Angeles

A. E. Dangor · Imperial College London

V. Malka · École Polytechnique

K. A. Marsh · University of California, Los Angeles

A. Modena

Abstract

The spatial extent of the plasma wave and the spectrum of the accelerated electrons are simultaneously measured when the relativistic plasma wave associated with Raman forward scattering of an intense laser beam reaches the wave breaking limit. The maximum observed energy of 94 MeV is greater than that expected from the phase slippage between the electrons and the accelerating electric field as given by the linear theory for preinjected electrons. The results are in good agreement with 2D particle-in-cell code simulations of the experiment.

Topics & Keywords

Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics Laser-induced spectroscopy and plasma Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Affordable and clean energy

Publication Details

Published in: Physical Review Letters

Volume 80, Issue 10, pp. 2133-2136

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.80.2133

Field-Weighted Citation Impact: 30.22