Speaker
Description
Recently, channels formed by the hydrodynamic expansion of optical-field ionised plasmas (HOFI plasma channels) have received significant attention as suitable technology for efficient, high-energy laser-plasma accelerators (LPAs). In [1], we demonstrated high-quality PW-class laser guiding through 30-cm-long plasma channels, and controlled acceleration of singly peaked, quasimonoenergetic electron bunches to ~ 10 GeV. However, quantitative interpretation of such experiments is limited by substantial uncertainties in key plasma parameters, particularly the transverse density profile of HOFI plasma channels. Distinct plasma density distributions can produce similar terminal beam energies, complicating efforts to infer the underlying interaction physics from measurements at the accelerator exit alone. By combining longitudinally resolved electron beam diagnostics with independent measurements of laser spectral evolution in a 10 GeV LPA driven using the BELLA PW laser, we establish a multi-observable constraint on plasma density profiles [2]. The validated simulations indicate that extending the accelerator length to 65 cm would increase the electron beam energy to 15 GeV. They also point the way to achieving $\sim$ 20 GeV electron beams in $\sim$ 70 cm via linear matching using the same 24 J laser energy.
[1] A. Picksley et al., Phys. Rev. Lett (2024)
[2] H.Tang et al., https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.25823
This work was supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, and used the facilities at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) under award HEP-ERCAP0035612.
| Working group | WG1 |
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