All-Optical Steering Of Laser-Wakefield-Accelerated Electron Beams

Authors

• A. Popp, Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik
• J. Vieira, GoLP/Istituto de Plasmas e Fusao Nuclear
• J. Osterhoff, Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik
• Zs. Major, Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik
• R. Horlein, Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik
• Matthias Fuchs, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
• R. Weingartner, Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik
• T.P. Rowlands-Ree, University of Oxford
• M. Marti, GoLP/Istituto de Plasmas e Fusao Nuclear
• R.A. Fonseca, GoLP/Istituto de Plasmas e Fusao Nuclear
• S.F. Martins, GoLP/Istituto de Plasmas e Fusao Nuclear
• L.O. Silva, GoLP/Istituto de Plasmas e Fusao Nuclear
• Simon M. Hooker, University of OxfordFollow
• F. Krausz, Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik
• F. Gruner, Max-Planck-Institut für QuantenoptikFollow
• Stefan Karsh, Max-Planck-Institut für QuantenoptikFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2010

Citation

Physical Review Letters 105, 215001 (2010); DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.215001

Comments

Copyright 2010 The American Physical Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

We investigate the influence of a tilted laser-pulse-intensity front on laser-wakefield acceleration. Such asymmetric light pulses may be exploited to obtain control over the electron-bunch-pointing direction and in our case allowed for reproducible electron-beam steering in an all-optical way within an 8 mrad opening window with respect to the initial laser axis. We also discovered evidence of collective electron-betatron oscillations due to odd-axis electron injection into the wakefield induced by a pulse-front tilt. These findings are supported by 3D particle-in-cell simulations.