Speaker
Description
There is a growing demand for generating and transporting short femtosecond-scale, high-charge-density relativistic electron bunches. Applications range from extreme light sources such as free-electron lasers (FELs) to future linear colliders and plasma accelerators. Laser-plasma wakefield accelerators (LWFA) offer a promising approach for compact high-gradient acceleration. However, electrons generated directly from the plasma in a non-linear self-injection process result in poor stability with limited control. External injection from a conventional accelerator into the plasma provides a solution but requires extremely short electron bunches with precise control over their parameters, which is currently limited by the compression and timing jitter achievable with conventional radio-frequency accelerators.
We have previously shown that laser-driven terahertz (THz) manipulation of electron bunches can enable phase-locked, laser-synchronized compression of high-charge bunches with suppressed time jitter. Here, using computational methods, we explore the external injection of such THz-manipulatted electron bunches into a LWFA. By utilizing intrinsic synchronization and THz-driven energy manipulation, we demonstrate significant compression of electron bunches with suppressed time jitter, enabling optimal and stable injection into the LWFA while preserving high bunch quality during acceleration. Our novel scheme provides a future route for staging to higher energies, overcoming key challenges and unlocking the full potential of LWFAs.
