Nuclear Photonics 2023

Laser-plasma electron acceleration and gamma-ray generation with PW laser pulses

Sep 12, 2023, 8:45 AM

30m

Junior Ballroom (Durham Convention Center)

Strong-Field QED and High Intensity Laser-Plasma Interaction

Speaker

Hyung Taek Kim (Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology)

Description

Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) [1] and x-ray/gamma-ray generation based on LWFA [2] are emerging technologies that exhibit promising advancements in the production of compact, high-energy electron and photon sources. The advent of PW and multi-PW lasers [3–5] has facilitated the investigation of new regimes of LWFA and radiation generation. We recently conducted a LWFA experiment with 2.5-PW laser pulses and obtained a high-quality 4.5 GeV electron beam from a helium gas cell containing 1% neon dopant. Compared to a pure helium medium, the neon dopant significantly increased the energy spread, charge, and divergence of the electron beams. Numerical studies utilizing particle-in-cell simulations revealed that sequential ionization of neon dopants played a crucial role in laser propagation, whereas ionization injection induced by inner-shell ionization [6] of neon occurred only at the position of strong self-focusing. These results demonstrate the importance of neon dopants in the production of high-quality multi-GeV electron beams utilizing multi-PW laser pulses. In addition, we achieved high-brightness, high-flux betatron radiations in the gamma-ray range by separating the radiation generation process from the acceleration process, a method known as the hybrid betatron scheme [7]. In this presentation, we will discuss recent developments in LWFA and hybrid betatron gamma-ray generation utilizing laser pulses with multiple PW.

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[5] J. W. Yoon, Y. G. Kim, I. W. Choi, J. H. Sung, H. W. Lee, S. K. Lee, and C. H. Nam, Realization of Laser Intensity over 10 23 W/Cm 2 , Optica 8, 630 (2021).
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[7] J. Ferri et al., High-Brilliance Betatron γ -Ray Source Powered by Laser-Accelerated Electrons, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 254802 (2018).