First Electron Acceleration in a Tunable-Velocity Laser Wakefield

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Liberman, Aaron, Golovanov, Anton, Smartsev, Slava, Talposi, Anda-Maria, Tata, Sheroy, Malka, Victor
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Liberman, Aaron
Golovanov, Anton
Smartsev, Slava
Talposi, Anda-Maria
Tata, Sheroy
Malka, Victor
author_facet Liberman, Aaron
Golovanov, Anton
Smartsev, Slava
Talposi, Anda-Maria
Tata, Sheroy
Malka, Victor
contents We present the first experimental confirmation that a laser-wakefield accelerator produced by a flying focus pulse is able to maintain the coherent structures necessary to accelerate electrons to relativistic energies. Through a combination of spatio-temporal near-field shaping of the beam and focusing with an axiparabola - a long-focal-depth mirror that produces a quasi-Bessel beam - the propagation velocity of the wakefield is tuned to control the maximum electron energy achievable. The experimental data are supported by advanced optical and particle-in-cell simulations and are aligned with a simplified analytical model. Together, the results significantly strengthen the case for the flying-focus wakefield as a strategy for mitigating dephasing in laser-wakefield acceleration.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_21098
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle First Electron Acceleration in a Tunable-Velocity Laser Wakefield
Liberman, Aaron
Golovanov, Anton
Smartsev, Slava
Talposi, Anda-Maria
Tata, Sheroy
Malka, Victor
Accelerator Physics
Optics
Plasma Physics
We present the first experimental confirmation that a laser-wakefield accelerator produced by a flying focus pulse is able to maintain the coherent structures necessary to accelerate electrons to relativistic energies. Through a combination of spatio-temporal near-field shaping of the beam and focusing with an axiparabola - a long-focal-depth mirror that produces a quasi-Bessel beam - the propagation velocity of the wakefield is tuned to control the maximum electron energy achievable. The experimental data are supported by advanced optical and particle-in-cell simulations and are aligned with a simplified analytical model. Together, the results significantly strengthen the case for the flying-focus wakefield as a strategy for mitigating dephasing in laser-wakefield acceleration.
title First Electron Acceleration in a Tunable-Velocity Laser Wakefield
topic Accelerator Physics
Optics
Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.21098