Driving positron beam acceleration with coherent transition radiation

Xu, Z.; Yi, Longqing; Shen, Baifei; Xu, Jiancai; Ji, Liangliang; Xu, Tongjun; Zhang, Lingang; Li, Shun; Xu, Zhizhan

doi:10.1038/s42005-020-00471-6

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 52 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The target fills the simulation window in the transverse direction. The consistence of simulation and theoretical results [22] confirmed that the CTR field induced by the target is the same as that induced by an infinite target. In real experiment, one can always utilize a transversal large enough target to avoid the influence of finite transverse size [44,45].…”

Section: Particle-in-cell Simulationssupporting

confidence: 53%

“…Another novel and promising positron acceleration scheme relies on coherent transition radiation (CTR) [22], which has recently been experimentally demonstrated in relativistic electron acceleration [23]. Intense CTR generates naturally when the driving electron beam passes through the rear surface of high-Z target, captures and accelerates the generated positrons into high energy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Copious energetic electrons pass through a solid target (the CTR generator), as discussed in our previous work [22], and induce intense THz radiation in the plasma channel. The THz wave evolves rapidly in plasma channel to form a steady and uniform field structure, which is suitable for keeping positron acceleration in high quality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Positron acceleration by terahertz wave and electron beam in plasma channel

Shen

et al. 2023

New J. Phys.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We present a scheme of positron acceleration by intense terahertz (THz) wave together with the driving large-charge electron beam in a plasma channel. The THz wave rapidly evolves into a transversely uniform acceleration field and a weakly focusing/defocusing lateral field in the channel. The THz wave is partially formed with the scheme of coherent transition radiation (CTR) when the electron beam goes through a metal foil and partially because of the wakefield in the plasma channel. The electron beam continuously supplies energy to the THz wave. Such a field structure offers the feasibility of long-distance positron acceleration while preserving beam quality. By two-dimensional simulations, we demonstrate the acceleration of positrons from initial 1 GeV to 126.8 GeV with a charge of ~10 pC over a distance of 1 m. The energy spread of accelerated positrons is 2.2%. This scheme can utilize the electron beam either from laser-driven or conventional accelerators, showing prospects towards high-quality and flexible THz-driven relativistic positron sources of ~100 GeV.

show abstract

Section: Particle-in-cell Simulationssupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Positron acceleration by terahertz wave and electron beam in plasma channel

Shen

et al. 2023

New J. Phys.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Ultrashort THz field waveforms help coherently control over the dynamics of spins 14 , molecular rotations 9 , 15 , 16 , vibrations of crystal lattices 17 , and evolution of free- and bound-state electron wave packets 9 – 13 , 18 . In strong-field ultrafast optics, THz generation provides means for particle acceleration 19 , laser-wakefield characterization 20 , 21 , external-field-assisted high-harmonic generation 11 – 13 , 22 , and electron bunch diagnostics at particle-accelerator, synchrotron, and free-electron laser (FEL) facilities 23 , 24 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced coherent transition radiation from midinfrared-laser-driven microplasmas

Glek

Zheltikov

2022

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We present a particle-in-cell (PIC) analysis of terahertz (THz) radiation by ultrafast plasma currents driven by relativistic-intensity laser pulses. We show that, while the I0$${\lambda }_{0}^{2}$$ λ 0 2 product of the laser intensity I0 and the laser wavelength λ0 plays the key role in the energy scaling of strong-field laser-plasma THz generation, the THz output energy, WTHz, does not follow the I0$${\lambda }_{0}^{2}$$ λ 0 2 scaling. Its behavior as a function of I0 and λ0 is instead much more complex. Our two- and three-dimensional PIC analysis shows that, for moderate, subrelativistic and weakly relativistic fields, WTHz(I0$${\lambda }_{0}^{2}$$ λ 0 2 ) can be approximated as (I0λ02)α, with a suitable exponent α, as a clear signature of vacuum electron acceleration as a predominant physical mechanism whereby the energy of the laser driver is transferred to THz radiation. For strongly relativistic laser fields, on the other hand, WTHz(I0$${\lambda }_{0}^{2}$$ λ 0 2 ) closely follows the scaling dictated by the relativistic electron laser ponderomotive potential $${\mathscr{F}}_{{\text{e}}}$$ F e , converging to WTHz ∝ $${I}_{0}^{1/2}{\lambda }_{0}$$ I 0 1 / 2 λ 0 for very high I0, thus indicating the decisive role of relativistic ponderomotive charge acceleration as a mechanism behind laser-to-THz energy conversion. Analysis of the electron distribution function shows that the temperature Te of hot laser-driven electrons bouncing back and forth between the plasma boundaries displays the same behavior as a function of I0 and λ0, altering its scaling from (I0λ02)α to that of $${\mathscr{F}}_{{\text{e}}}$$ F e , converging to WTHz ∝ $${I}_{0}^{1/2}{\lambda }_{0}$$ I 0 1 / 2 λ 0 for very high I0. These findings provide a clear physical picture of THz generation in relativistic and subrelativistic laser plasmas, suggesting the THz yield WTHz resolved as a function of I0 and λ0 as a meaningful measurable that can serve as a probe for the temperature Te of hot electrons in a vast class of laser–plasma interactions. Specifically, the α exponent of the best (I0λ02)α fit of the THz yield suggests a meaningful probe that can help identify the dominant physical mechanisms whereby the energy of the laser field is converted to the energy of plasma electrons.

show abstract

“…Numerical studies have explored the potential for gamma-ray emission [28][29][30][31] and positron creation [32][33][34][35]. To date, only three schemes for positron creation and acceleration have been proposed [36][37][38].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Creation and direct laser acceleration of positrons in a single stage

Martinez¹,

Barbosa²,

Vranic³

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Relativistic positron beams are required for fundamental research in nonlinear strong field QED, plasma physics, and laboratory astrophysics. Positrons are difficult to create and manipulate due to their short lifetime, and their energy gain is limited by the accelerator size in conventional facilities. Alternative compact accelerator concepts in plasmas are becoming more and more mature for electrons, but positron generation and acceleration remains an outstanding challenge. Here we propose a new setup where we can generate, inject and accelerate them in a single stage during the propagation of an intense laser in a plasma channel. The positrons are created from a laserelectron collision at 90 degrees, where the injection and guiding are made possible by an 800 nC electron beam loading which reverses the sign of the background electrostatic field. We obtain a 20 fC positron beam, with GeV-level central energy within 0.5 mm of plasma.

show abstract

Driving positron beam acceleration with coherent transition radiation

Cited by 13 publications

References 52 publications

Positron acceleration by terahertz wave and electron beam in plasma channel

Positron acceleration by terahertz wave and electron beam in plasma channel

Enhanced coherent transition radiation from midinfrared-laser-driven microplasmas

Creation and direct laser acceleration of positrons in a single stage

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About