Controlling the Self-Injection Threshold in Laser Wakefield Accelerators.

Controlling the parameters of a laser plasma accelerated electron beam is a topic of intense research with a particular focus placed on controlling the injection phase of electrons into the accelerating structure from the background plasma. An essential prerequisite for high-quality beams is dark-current free acceleration (i.e., no electrons accelerated beyond those deliberately injected). We show that small-scale density ripples in the background plasma are sufficient to cause the uncontrolled (self-)injection of electrons. Such ripples can be as short as ∼50 µm and can therefore not be resolved by standard interferometry. Background free injection with substantially improved beam characteristics (divergence and pointing) is demonstrated in a gas cell designed for a controlled gas flow. The results are supported by an analytical theory as well as 3D particle in cell simulations.

Noncollinear Polarization Gating of Attosecond Pulse Trains in the Relativistic Regime.

High order harmonics generated at relativistic intensities have long been recognized as a route to the most powerful extreme ultraviolet pulses. Reliably generating isolated attosecond pulses requires gating to only a single dominant optical cycle, but techniques developed for lower power lasers have not been readily transferable. We present a novel method to temporally gate attosecond pulse trains by combining noncollinear and polarization gating. This scheme uses a split beam configuration which allows pulse gating to be implemented at the high beam fluence typical of multi-TW to PW class laser systems. Scalings for the gate width demonstrate that isolated attosecond pulses are possible even for modest pulse durations achievable for existing and planned future ultrashort high-power laser systems. Experimental results demonstrating the spectral effects of temporal gating on harmonic spectra generated by a relativistic laser plasma interaction are shown.

Direct Observation of the Injection Dynamics of a Laser Wakefield Accelerator Using Few-Femtosecond Shadowgraphy.

We present few-femtosecond shadowgraphic snapshots taken during the nonlinear evolution of the plasma wave in a laser wakefield accelerator with transverse synchronized few-cycle probe pulses. These snapshots can be directly associated with the electron density distribution within the plasma wave and give quantitative information about its size and shape. Our results show that self-injection of electrons into the first plasma-wave period is induced by a lengthening of the first plasma period. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations support our observations.

Full characterization of the amplified spontaneous emission from a diode-pumped high-power laser system.

We present the first complete temporal and spatial characterization of the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of laser radiation generated by a diode-pumped high-power laser system. The ASE of the different amplifiers was measured independently from the main pulse and was characterized within a time window of -10ms ≤ t ≤ 10ms and an accuracy of up to 15fs around the main pulse. Furthermore, the focusability and the energy of the ASE from each amplifier was measured after recompression. Using our analysis method, the laser components, which need to be optimized for a further improvement of the laser contrast, can be identified. This will be essential for laser-matter interaction experiments requiring a minimized ASE intensity or fluence.