High energy laser wakefield acceleration

Abstract

Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) experiment using 100TW laser is planned at JAERI-Kansai. High quality short pulse electron beams and the precise electron-laser synchronization are necessary to accelerate the electron beam by the laser. A microtron with a photocathode rf-gun was developed as a high quality electron injector. The quantum efficiency(QE) of the photocathode was measured to be 2 × 10^{-5} . Emittance and a pulse width of the electron beams were 6π mm-mrad and 10ps, respectively. In order to produce a short pulse electron beam, and to synchronize between the electron beam and the laser pulse, the inverse free electron laser (IFEL) is planed. A gas jet was set up and a density of the gas was measured by Mach-Zehnder interferometer. In order to overcome a short acceleration length of the LWFA, the Z-pinch plasma waveguide has been developed for 1 GeV laser wakefield acceleration.