Ionization Waves of Arbitrary Velocity

Turnbull, D.; Franke, P.; Katz, J.; Palastro, J. P.; Begishev, I. A.; Boni, R.; Bromage, J.; Milder, A. L.; Shaw, Jessica; Froula, Dustin

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.120.225001

Cited by 54 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…1(c), or even negative depending on the magnitude of the chirp (i.e. backwards propagation, which has already been demonstrated experimentally [10,12]). The expected velocity of the intensity peak was derived in Saint-Marie et al [9], and is reproduced here:…”

Section: Overview Of the Flying Focusmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…Here we discuss the so-called flying focus effect whereby the velocity of the light intensity peak formed within the focal region of a broadband laser pulse can be arbitrarily different than the speed of light via very simple spatio-temporal shaping [9,10]. This recently identified effect has many potential scientific applications such as ionization waves of arbitrary velocity [11][12][13], Raman amplification in a plasma [14], particle acceleration [15], and photon acceleration [16]. The flying focus (also referred to as the "sliding focus") has been demonstrated on a laser system with sub-picosecond duration [10] using a diffractive lens to induce spatio-temporal couplings, a scheme well-suited to the rather narrow spectral width of such a laser.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Controlling the velocity of a femtosecond laser pulse using refractive lenses

Jolly¹,

Gobert²,

Jeandet³

et al. 2020

Opt. Express

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The combination of temporal chirp with a simple chromatic aberration known as longitudinal chromatism leads to extensive control over the velocity of laser intensity in the focal region of an ultrashort laser beam. We present the first implementation of this effect on a femtosecond laser. We demonstrate that by using a specially designed and characterized lens doublet to induce longitudinal chromatism, this velocity control can be implemented independent of the parameters of the focusing optic, thus allowing for great flexibility in experimental applications. Finally, we explain and demonstrate how this spatiotemporal phenomenon evolves when imaging the ultrashort pulse focus with a magnification different from unity.

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Section: Overview Of the Flying Focusmentioning

confidence: 66%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controlling the velocity of a femtosecond laser pulse using refractive lenses

Jolly¹,

Gobert²,

Jeandet³

et al. 2020

Opt. Express

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…By stretching the region over which a laser pulse focuses and adjusting the relative timing at which those foci occur, the velocity of an intensity peak can be made to travel at any velocity, independent of the group velocity. This property has already been exploited in proof-of-principle simulations to improve Raman amplification, photon acceleration, and relativistic mirrors, and to generate Cherenkov radiation in a plasma [17][18][19][20][21][22][23] and in experiments to drive ionization waves at any velocity [24]. For LWFA, a spatiotemporally shaped laser pulse could drive a wakefield with a phase velocity equal to the speed of light in vacuum ( v p = c), eliminating dephasing and greatly reducing the accelerator length by allowing for operation at higher densities.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dephasingless Laser Wakefield Acceleration

et al. 2020

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Laser wakefield accelerators (LWFAs) produce extremely high gradients enabling compact accelerators and radiation sources, but face design limitations, such as dephasing, occurring when trapped electrons outrun the accelerating phase of the wakefield. Here we combine spherical aberration with a novel cylindrically symmetric echelon optic to spatiotemporally structure an ultra-short, high-intensity laser pulse that can overcome dephasing by propagating at any velocity over any distance. The ponderomotive force of the spatiotemporally shaped pulse can drive a wakefield with a phase velocity equal to the speed of light in vacuum, preventing trapped electrons from outrunning the wake. Simulations in the linear regime and scaling laws in the bubble regime illustrate that this dephasingless LWFA can accelerate electrons to high energies in much shorter distances than a traditional LWFA-a single 4.5 m stage can accelerate electrons to TeV energies without the need for guiding structures. Forty years ago, Tajima and Dawson recognized that the axial electric fields of ponderomotively driven plasma waves far surpass those of conventional radiofrequency accelerators [1], launching the field of 'advanced accelerators'-disruptive concepts that promise smaller-scale, cheaper accelerators for high energy physics experiments and advanced light sources [2,3]. Since their seminal paper, a number of theoretical breakthroughs [4-7] and experimental demonstrations [8-14] of laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) have made rapid progress toward that goal. Experiments recurrently achieve record-breaking electron energy gains underscored by the recent observation of a 7.8 GeV energy gain in only 20 cm [15]. In spite of this impressive progress, traditional LWFA faces a key design limitation of electrons outrunning the accelerating phase of the wakefield or dephasing.In traditional LWFA, a near-collimated laser pulse, either through channel or selfguiding, produces a ponderomotive force that travels subluminally at the group velocity (

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“…Optical pulse propagation, including velocity and direction, is a very basic characteristic for applications like optical information/communication, laser-matter interaction, and so on [1][2][3][4][5][6]. In linear physics, an optical pulse propagates along a straight-line trajectory at the velocity of c/n, where c is the speed of light in the vacuum and n is the refractive index of the medium.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reciprocating propagation of laser pulse intensity in free space

Kawanaka

2021

Preprint

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The constant-speed straight-line propagation in free space is a basic characteristic of light. Recently, several novel spatiotemporal coupling methods, for example, flying focus (or named sliding focus), are developed to control light propagation including velocity and direction. In the method of flying focus, where temporal chirp and longitudinal chromatism are combined to increase the degree of freedom for coherent control, tunable-velocities and even backward-propagation have been demonstrated. Herein, we studied the transverse and longitudinal effects of the flying focus in space and time, respectively, and found in a specific physics interval existing an unusual reciprocating propagation that was quite different from the previous result. By significantly increasing the Rayleigh length in space and the temporal chirp in time, the newly created flying focus can propagate along a longitudinal axis firstly forward, secondly backward, and lastly forward again, and the longitudinal spatial resolution for a clear reciprocation flying focus improves with increasing the temporal chirp. When this new type of light is applied in the radiation pressure experiment, a reciprocating radiation-force can be produced in space-time accordingly. This finding further extends the control of light and might enable important potential applications.

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Ionization Waves of Arbitrary Velocity

Cited by 54 publications

References 35 publications

Controlling the velocity of a femtosecond laser pulse using refractive lenses

Controlling the velocity of a femtosecond laser pulse using refractive lenses

Dephasingless Laser Wakefield Acceleration

Reciprocating propagation of laser pulse intensity in free space

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