激光尾场加速电子的密度梯度注入的解析处理

在激光尾场加速电子的机理中, 引入适当的密度梯度容易实现并控制电子注入到等离子体波中实现加速. 迄今对密度梯度注入的理论研究主要采用粒子模拟. 本文发展了一种解析处理密度梯度注入的方法, 分析了密度下降区域中电子的注入和加速. 给出了一维密度梯度中电子注入发生的条件, 采用哈密顿力学得到了线性条件下密度梯度区的电子相空间分界线(separatrix); 讨论了密度梯度区电子注入的时间对电子进入密度均匀区持续加速的影响. 用粒子模拟验证了分析结果.

An analytic approach for density gradient injection in laser wake field acceleration

In laser wake field acceleration, it is relatively easy to achieve and control electron injection by adopting a plasma density gradient. This scheme of plasma density gradient injection has been studied in recent years both theoretically and experimentally, but thus far theoretical studies have been done mostly by particle-in-cell simulations. In this paper the density gradient injection and acceleration of electrons are studied with a newly developed analytic approach. The energy threshold for electron injection versus plasma density gradient scale length is given. It is shown that in the plasma density gradient region, the energy threshold of electron injection becomes lower at later times after the driving laser pusle or when the gradient becomes sharper. Evolution of plasma wave's phase velocity and motion of the background electrons in the plasma density gradient are worked out in the linear plasma wave regime, i.e. the normalized laser intensity is a₀～1. The energy, the location, and the timing of the injected electrons are obtained. Separatrices of test electrons in the gradient region are obtained by Hamiltonian theory. The influence of injection timing in the density gradient region on the succeeding acceleration in the homogeneous plasma density region is also discussed. It is indicated that whether the injected electrons may be accelerated efficiently or not in the homogeneous region depends on both the energy of the electrons and the phase of the plasma wave at the gradient-to-homogeneous turning point. The analytic results are confirmed by particle-in-cell simulations.