Radiation reaction-dominated regime of wakefield acceleration
Abstract
We study electron acceleration in a plasma wakefield under the influence of the radiation-reaction force caused by the transverse betatron oscillations of the electron in the wakefield. Both the classical and the strong quantum-electrodynamic (QED) limits of the continuous radiation reaction are considered. For the constant accelerating force, we show that the amplitude of the oscillations of the QED parameter χ in the radiation-dominated regime reaches an equilibrium value determined only by the magnitude of the accelerating field, while the averaged over betatron oscillations radiation reaction force saturates at a value smaller than the accelerating force and thus is incapable of stopping acceleration. We find the parameters of the electron bunch and the plasma accelerator for which reaching such a regime is possible. We also study effects of the dephasing and the corresponding change of the accelerating force over the course of acceleration and conclude that the radiation-dominated regime is realized both in cases of single-stage acceleration with slow dephasing (usually corresponding to bunch-driven plasma accelerators) and multi-stage acceleration with fast dephasing (corresponding to the use of laser-driven accelerators).
- Publication:
-
New Journal of Physics
- Pub Date:
- March 2022
- DOI:
- 10.1088/1367-2630/ac53b9
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2109.04866
- Bibcode:
- 2022NJPh...24c3011G
- Keywords:
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- plasma acceleration;
- radiation reaction;
- radiation-dominated regime;
- betatron oscillations;
- Physics - Plasma Physics;
- Physics - Accelerator Physics
- E-Print:
- 15 pages, 9 figures