The chirped-pulse inverse free-electron laser: A high-gradient vacuum laser accelerator

The inverse free-electron laser (IFEL) interaction is studied theoretically and computationally in the case where the drive laser intensity approaches the relativistic regime, and the pulse duration is only a few optical cycles long. The IFEL concept has been demonstrated as a viable vacuum laser ac...

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Veröffentlicht in:Physics of Plasmas 1999-10, Vol.6 (10), p.4104-4110
Hauptverfasser: Hartemann, F. V., Landahl, E. C., Troha, A. L., Van Meter, J. R., Baldis, H. A., Freeman, R. R., Luhmann, N. C., Song, L., Kerman, A. K., Yu, D. U. L.
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:The inverse free-electron laser (IFEL) interaction is studied theoretically and computationally in the case where the drive laser intensity approaches the relativistic regime, and the pulse duration is only a few optical cycles long. The IFEL concept has been demonstrated as a viable vacuum laser acceleration process; it is shown here that by using an ultrashort, ultrahigh-intensity drive laser pulse, the IFEL interaction bandwidth and accelerating gradient are increased considerably, thus yielding large energy gains. Using a chirped pulse and negative dispersion focusing optics allows one to take further advantage of the laser optical bandwidth and produce a chromatic line focus maximizing the gradient. The combination of these novel ideas results in a compact vacuum laser accelerator capable of accelerating picosecond electron bunches with a high gradient (GeV/m) and very low energy spread.
ISSN:1070-664X
1089-7674
DOI:10.1063/1.873718