Speaker
Description
Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) in optically generated plasma waveguides has produced multi-GeV, high-charge electron beams. However, even in guided configurations, electron energy gain remains fundamentally limited by dephasing between the accelerated bunch and the plasma wake. In this talk, we present resent results demonstrating dephasing mitigation in self-waveguided LWFA through longitudinal tailoring of the plasma density profile. Using a modular gas jet, we generate customized tapered channels that rephase the electron bunch with the accelerating field, extending the effective acceleration length. Experiments performed in a ~20 cm plasma waveguide show up to a ~2x increase in electron energy compared to uniform-density channels under otherwise identical conditions, and peak energies reaching 4-6 GeV depending on the injection scheme. The effect is observed across multiple controlled injection methods, including localized ionization injection, pi-step injection, and laser-ablation of a copper target. These results are supported by theoretical scaling arguments and particle-in-cell simulations. The demonstrated control over longitudinal plasma structure provides a pathway toward higher-energy, high-efficiency LWFAs and scalable compact accelerators for secondary radiation and particle sources.
| Working group | WG1 |
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