COMPACT LASER DRIVEN ELECTRON AND PROTON ACCELERATION WITH LOW ENERGY LASERS
COMPACT LASER DRIVEN ELECTRON AND PROTON ACCELERATION WITH LOW ENERGY LASERS
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Date
2017
Authors
Hine, George Albert
Advisor
Milchberg, Howard M
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Abstract
Laser-driven particle accelerators offer many advantages over conventional particle
accelerators. The most significant of these is the magnitude of the accelerating
gradient and, consequently, the compactness of the accelerating structure. In this
dissertation, experimental and computational advances in laser-based particle
acceleration in three intensity regimes are presented. All mechanisms investigated
herein are accessible by “tabletop” ultrashort terawatt-class laser systems found in
many university labs, with the intention of making them available to more compact
and high repetition rate laser systems. The first mechanism considered is the
acceleration of electrons in a preformed plasma “slow-wave” guiding structure.
Experimental advances in the generation of these plasma guiding structures are
presented. The second mechanism is the laser-wakefield acceleration of electrons in
the self-modulated regime. A high-density gas target is implemented experimentally
leading to electron acceleration at low laser pulse energy. Consequences of operating
in this regime are investigated numerically. The third mechanism is the acceleration
of protons by a laser-generated magnetic structure. A numerical investigation is
performed identifying operating regimes for experimental realizations of this
mechanism. The key advances presented in this dissertation are:
The development and demonstration of modulated plasma waveguide
generation using both mechanical obstruction and an interferometric laser
patterning method
The acceleration of electrons to MeV energy scales in a high-density
hydrogen target with sub-terawatt laser pulses and the generation of bright,
ultra-broadband optical pules from the interaction region
3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of self-modulated laser wakefield
acceleration in a plasma, showing the generation of broadband radiation, and
the role of “direct laser acceleration” in this regime
3D PIC simulations of laser wakefield acceleration in the resonant regime,
identifying spatio-temporal optical vortices in a laser-plasma system
3D PIC simulations of proton acceleration by magnetic vortex acceleration
using TW-class laser pulses