Laser wakefield acceleration of electrons with ionization injection in a pure N{sup 5+} plasma waveguide

Ionization injection-assisted laser wakefield acceleration of electrons up to 120 MeV is demonstrated in a 1.5 mm long pure helium-like nitrogen plasma waveguide. The guiding structure stabilizes the high energy electron beam pointing and reduces the beam divergence. Our results are confirmed by 3D particle-in-cell simulations.