Experimental investigation of interactions of long CO2 laser pulse with plasma at ATF
Abstract
Laser wakefield accelerators (LWFAs) can sustain accelerating gradients that greatly surpass those of conventional accelerators. Long (∼ps) and intense (>TW) laser pulses have been employed in LWFAs to generate bright, hard X-rays which are of interest for imaging and diagnosing warm-dense matter. The CO2 laser at the ATF facility of the Brookhaven National Laboratory is a unique source, which can generate 2 ps-long, multi-TW laser pulses in the mid-IR (9.2 μm) regime. The properties of the laser-plasma interactions were characterized by imaging the plasma wakefields with the linac-produced short (150-250 fs) relativistic electron beam at ATF. The evolution of a self-modulated laser wake in an underdense plasma has been directly observed and analyzed. Experimental results as well as simulations exploring the properties of this regime will be presented.
- Publication:
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APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020APS..DPPTO03010