充气型放电毛细管的密度测量及磁流体模拟

在激光尾波场电子加速机理中,为了有效地加速电子,需要抑制衍射散焦等造成的激光传输不稳定性问题. 激光脉冲的稳定传输不仅有利于能量耦合给等离子体波,而且对电子束的注入及稳定加速有着重要影响,具有一定横向密度分布的充气型放电毛细管可以有效引导激光脉冲的传输. 利用等离子体的Stark展宽效应对毛细管产生的等离子体进行密度测量,给出了等离子体密度与充气压强之间的关系. 利用磁流体程序CRMHA对毛细管的放电特性进行了模拟,研究了毛细管引导效应的形成机理. 关键词： 充气型放电毛细管 Stark展宽 磁流体模拟 引导     

面向激光等离子体尾波加速的毛细管放电实验研究

具有合适径向密度分布的等离子体通道可以用于超短超强激光导引,这使得等离子体通道在激光尾波加速中有着重要的应用.本文介绍了在上海交通大学激光等离子体实验室开展的毛细管放电和光导引实验.通过光谱展宽法测量了充氦气的放电毛细管中的等离子体密度分布,在长度为3 cm、内径为300μm的毛细管中实现了轴向均匀,径向呈抛物线型的等离子体密度分布.通过改变放电延时和喷气时长,确定和优化了产生等离子体通道的参数区间,得到的最大通道深度为28μm,与实验中使用的激光焦斑半径匹配.在此基础之上,开展了不同能量的激光脉冲在放电等离子体通道中的导引研究,结果发现当通道深度与焦斑半径匹配时,激光可以不散焦地在通道中传输,实现激光导引.这项研究为未来的激光尾波级联加速和锁相加速等研究奠定了基础.     

激光等离子体尾波加速器的发展和展望

超强激光在气体等离子体中传输时可以激发出大振幅的电子等离子体尾波。激光等离子体尾波加速器是利用该尾波对带电粒子（特别是电子和正电子）进行加速的一种新型装置。由于其加速梯度相较于现有的常规加速器可以提升1000倍,为建造超紧凑型的加速器和辐射源奠定了基础,也为将来建造基于等离子体的超高能正负电子对撞机和自由电子激光装置提供了可能。对该新型加速器的原理、特点、发展历程,尤其是近十年来的主要进展和未来发展趋势及面临的主要挑战进行简要梳理和介绍。     

稀薄等离子体中激发尾波场的共振条件

研究了在稀薄等离子体中强激光激发尾波场的情况 ,发现尾波场的激发与入射激光的脉冲宽度有共振现象。在光强很小情况下 ,共振所需要的入射激光脉冲宽度为λp 2 ,随着光强的增大共振激光脉冲宽度减小。同时发现在稀薄等离子体中激发的尾波势场与等离子体的密度几乎无关 ,而激发的尾波场最大电场强度与等离子体的密度有关。     

近共振区超短强激光脉冲激发的等离子体尾波场

 用一维相对论粒子模拟研究了相对论超短强激光脉冲在等离子体中传播时激发的尾波场,初步获得了近共振区尾波场的峰值幅度随激光脉冲宽度变化的特点,发现在近共振区等离子体波激发出现增强。通过准静态近似下尾波激发的一维非线性方程数值求解,并与粒子模拟结果比较,得到了该非线性方程的适用范围：当激光脉冲宽度小于等离子体波波长的4倍时,该方程所得结果与粒子模拟结果一致;而当激光脉冲宽度大于该数值时,该方程不再适用。     

锐真空-等离子体边界倾角对激光尾波场加速中电子注入的影响

超短超强激光脉冲在气体等离子体中激发的尾波场加速在过去40年里有了长足的发展,人们已经在厘米加速距离内获得了数GeV的准单能电子加速,激光尾波加速的最高电子能量已经达到8 GeV.为了进一步提升加速电子束的稳定性和品质,多种电子注入方式先后被提出.本文研究了基于锐真空-等离子体边界面的密度跃变注入,着重讨论了不同角度的倾斜边界面对注入电子品质的影响.二维粒子模拟研究表明,与倾角为0°的垂直边界面相比,在合适的倾斜边界角下,第二个尾波空泡内产生的注入电量可以有近三倍的提升,同时偏振方向与入射面平行的驱动激光可以增加第一个空泡内注入电子的电量.根据不同激光入射角度时尾波场中电子自注入的起始位置差异,分析了电子电量与横向振荡增强的原因.这些研究有利于提升基于Betatron运动的尾波场辐射及其应用.     

稀薄等离子体中激发尾波场的共振动条件

研究了在稀薄等离子体中强激光激发尾波场的情况，发现尾波场的激发与入射激光的脉冲宽度有共振现象。在光强很小情况下，共振所需要的入射激光脉冲宽度度为λp/2，随着光强的增大共振激光脉冲宽度减小。同时发现在稀薄等离子体中激发的尾波势场与等离子体的密度几乎无关，而激发的尾波场最大电场强度与等离子体的密度有关。     

基于激光等离子体的光子加速

利用一维动量方程、连续性方程和泊松方程,导出了由于短脉冲激光入射到稀薄等离子体中 而引起的电子密度扰动,它与入射激光密切相关.而密度扰动的传播形成电子等离子体波(尾 波场).利用光学度规的方法,研究了与驱动激光脉冲入射相距一定空间距离入射的尾随激光 脉冲由于尾波场的作用引起的光子频率的增大.结果表明,在一定条件下,入射到尾波场中 的光子可以从尾波场中获得能量,在光子总数不变时,光子频率会增大,光子获得加速. 关键词： 电子密度扰动 光学度规 光子加速     

高等离子体密度区域的光子加速现象（英文）

我们测量了激光尾波场加速实验的透射光谱.与之前实验所不同的是,我们所采用的等离子体密度偏高.透射光谱同样呈现出低密度等离子体中光子加速现象的的两个明显特征,光谱加宽和频谱分裂.为了解释该现象,我们利用粒子模拟程序作了模拟计算,计算结果同样证实了高密度等离子体中只要有尾波场激发,同样能产生光子加速现象.利用该现象,为我们优化激光尾波场加速提供了一种新的方法.     

三角激光脉冲尾波加速粒子模拟

电子俘获是激光尾波场加速电子的主要机理，增大电子的初速度可以使更多的电子被尾波场俘获.提出三角脉冲激发尾波加速电子的方案，三角脉冲平缓上升沿激发受激Raman散射，用以初步加速电子，三角脉冲陡峭下降沿激发尾波场，将更多的电子加速到接近光速.2D3V粒子模拟结果证实了这一点.同时表明：脉冲长度为几个等离子体波长的超强激光在稀薄等离子体中传播时，还激发侧向Raman散射.在侧向受激Raman散射中，静电波增长最快的波矢模式为k_p=(2ω_p/ω₀ 关键词： 有质动力 电子俘获 前向受激Raman散射 侧向受激Raman散射     

Trapping and Acceleration of Electron Bunches Generated by a Laser Pulse Moving through the Sharp Plasma Boundary

The formation and acceleration of electron bunches resulting from the self-injection of electrons into the wake wave from the laser pulse moving through a sharp plasma boundary are investigated in one-dimensional geometry. It is shown that electron trapping in the accelerating wakefield is governed by the electron energy and has a threshold character. The acceleration of the trapped bunch is numerically simulated.     

Self-Injection and Acceleration of Monoenergetic Electron Beams from Laser Wakefield Accelerators in a Highly Relativistic Regime

Self-injection and acceleration of monoenergetic electron beams from laser wakefield accelerators are first investigated in the highly relativistic regime, using 100 TW class, 27 fs laser pulses. Quasi-monoenergetic multi- bunched beams with energies as high as multi-hundredMeV are observed with simultaneous measurements of side-scattering emissions that indicate the formation of self-channelfing and self-injection of electrons into a plasma wake, referred to as a ＇bubble＇. The three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations confirmed multiple self-injection of electron bunches into the bubble and their beam acceleration with gradient of 1.5 GeV/cm.     

Excitation of accelerating wakefields in inhomogeneous plasmas

The excitation of the wakefields in an inhomogeneous plasma by a short laser pulse is investigated theoretically. A general equation for the wake excitation in transversely nonuniform plasma is derived. This equation is applied to the step-function density profile model of hollow channel laser wakefield accelerator. A more realistic model, in which the transition between the evacuated channel and the homogeneous surrounding plasma occurs over a finite radial extent, is then analyzed. It is shown that the excited channel made can interact resonantly with the plasma electrons inside the channel wall, leading to secular growth of the electric field. This eventually results in wavebreaking and the dissipation of the accelerating mode. We introduce an effective quality factor Q for the hollow channel laser wakefield geometry. This resonance limits the number of electron bunches that can be accelerated in the wake of single laser pulse     

Overview of plasma-based accelerator concepts

An overview is given of the physics issues relevant to the plasma wakefield accelerator, the plasma beat-wave accelerator, the laser wakefield accelerator, including the self-modulated regime, and wakefield accelerators driven by multiple electron or laser pulses. Basic properties of linear and nonlinear plasma waves are discussed, as well as the trapping and acceleration of electrons in the plasma wave. Formulas are presented for the accelerating field and the energy gain in the various accelerator configurations. The propagation of the drive electron or laser beams is discussed, including limitations imposed by key instabilities and methods for optically guiding laser pulses. Recent experimental results are summarized     

高品质激光尾波场电子加速器

激光尾波场电子加速的加速梯度相比于传统直线加速器高了3—4个量级,对于小型化粒子加速器与辐射源的研制具有重要的意义,成为当今国内外的研究热点.台式化辐射源应用需求的提高,特别是自由电子激光装置的快速发展,对电子束流品质提出了更高的要求,激光尾波场电子加速的束流品质和稳定性是目前实现新型辐射源的首要障碍.本文归纳整理了中国科学院上海光学精密机械研究所电子加速研究团队十年来在研制台式化激光尾波场电子加速器过程中采取的方案和取得的进展.例如率先提出了注入级和加速级分离的级联加速方案,通过实验获得了GeV量级的电子束能量;基于级联加速方式利用能量啁啾控制,实验获得世界最高品质的电子束流;通过优化激光系统稳定性和特殊的气体喷流结构,获得稳定的高品质电子束流输出等.这一系列实验结果有利于进一步推进激光尾波场电子加速器的应用.     

Demonstration of a narrow energy spread, ∼0.5 GeV electron beam from a two-stage laser wakefield accelerator

Laser wakefield acceleration of electrons holds great promise for producing ultracompact stages of GeV scale, high-quality electron beams for applications such as x-ray free electron lasers and high-energy colliders. Ultrahigh intensity laser pulses can be self-guided by relativistic plasma waves (the wake) over tens of vacuum diffraction lengths, to give >1 GeV energy in centimeter-scale low density plasmas using ionization-induced injection to inject charge into the wake even at low densities. By restricting electron injection to a distinct short region, the injector stage, energetic electron beams (of the order of 100 MeV) with a relatively large energy spread are generated. Some of these electrons are then further accelerated by a second, longer accelerator stage, which increases their energy to ～0.5 GeV while reducing the relative energy spread to <5% FWHM.     

Mechanisms of electron injection into laser wakefields by a weak counter-propagating pulse

Numerical studies are conducted on the electron injection into the first acceleration bucket of a laser wakefield by a weak counter-propagating laser pulse. It is shown that there are two injection mechanisms involved during the colliding laser interaction, the collective injection and stochastic injection. They are caused by the time-averaged ponderomotive force push and stochastic acceleration in the interfering fields, respectively. The threshold amplitude of the injection laser pulse is estimated for the occurrence of electron injection, which is close to that for stochastic acceleration and depends weakly upon the plasma density. The trapping of a large number of injection electrons can result in significant decay of the laser wakefield behind the first wave bucket.     

Laser wake field acceleration: the highly non-linear broken-wave regime

We use three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to study laser wake field acceleration (LWFA) at highly relativistic laser intensities. We observe ultra-short electron bunches emerging from laser wake fields driven above the wave-breaking threshold by few-cycle laser pulses shorter than the plasma wavelength. We find a new regime in which the laser wake takes the shape of a solitary plasma cavity. It traps background electrons continuously and accelerates them. We show that 12-J, 33-fs laser pulses may produce bunches of 3×10¹⁰ electrons with energy sharply peaked around 300 MeV. These electrons emerge as low-emittance beams from plasma layers just 700-μm thick. We also address a regime intermediate between direct laser acceleration and LWFA, when the laser-pulse duration is comparable with the plasma period. Received: 12 December 2001 / Published online: 14 March 2002     

Acceleration of nonmonoenergetic electron bunches injected into a wake wave

The trapping and acceleration of nonmonoenergetic electron bunches in a wake field wave excited by a laser pulse in a plasma channel is studied. Electrons are injected into the region of the wake wave potential maximum at a velocity lower than the phase velocity of the wave. The paper analyzes the grouping of bunch electrons in the energy space emerging in the course of acceleration under certain conditions of their injection into the wake wave and minimizing the energy spread for such electrons. The factors determining the minimal energy spread between bunch electrons are analyzed. The possibility of monoenergetic acceleration of electron bunches generated by modern injectors in a wake wave is analyzed.