Direct Acceleration of an Annular Attosecond Electron Slice Driven by Near-Infrared Laguerre–Gaussian Laser

Abstract

A new near-infrared direct acceleration mechanism driven by Laguerre-Gaussian laser is proposed to stably accelerate and concentrate electron slice both in longitudinal and transversal directions in vacuum. Three-dimensional simulations show that a 2-µm circularly polarized LG l p (p = 0, l = 1, σ z = −1) laser can directly manipulate attosecond electron slices in additional dimensions (angular directions) and give them annular structures and angular momentums. These annular vortex attosecond electron slices are expected to have some novel applications such as in the collimation of antiprotons in conventional linear accelerators, edge-enhancement electron imaging, structured X-ray generation, and analysis and manipulation of nanomaterials.

Electron acceleration using twisted laser wavefronts

“…The exact dynamical process relating to the transverse fields is likely of less importance than that of the longitudinal fields. Previous studies have discussed the ponderomotive force as a mechanism for keeping electrons [31] (and ions [32]) within the central region of the beam. However, as can be seen in the comparison made in figure 6, this does not appear to be the dominant mechanism confining the electrons close to the axis in our case, at least at early times.…”

Evolution of orbital angular momentum spectrum of broadband Laguerre–Gaussian beam in OPCPA process

“…In strong field physics, the vortex beam with an ultra-short pulse duration and ultra-high intensity has been used in particle accelerations 7,8 . Most vortex beam generation methods,such as the transmissive spiral phase plate (TSPP) 9 , liquid crystal spatial light modulator (LC-SLM) 10 , and computer generated holography 10,11 , are restricted by the low damage threshold of devices in these methods, which has limited their application in the generation of strong field vortex beams.…”