Effect of laser contrast ratio on electron beam stability in laser wakefield acceleration experiments

@article{citeulike:3203930, abstract = {Laser wakefield accelerators offer the possibility of compact electron acceleration. However one of the key outstanding issues with the results reported to date is the electron beam stability. Experiments on two laser systems reveal that the contrast ratio between the ASE pedestal and main pulse is an important factor in determining the quality of the electron beam. With a high contrast ratio (108) the electron beam profile is a well collimated single beam having a low pointing instability (\<10 mrad rms). With a lower contrast (106) the beam profile contains multiple beamlets which exhibit a large pointing instability ([?]50 mrad rms). A high contrast ratio not only improves the beam pointing stability ([?]6 mrad) but also stabilizes the electron beam energy reproducibility (5\%).}, author = {Mangles, S. P. D. and Thomas, A. G. R. and Kaluza, M. C. and Lundh, O. and Lindau, F. and Persson, A. and Najmudin, Z. and Wahlstr\&\#246;m, C. G. and Murphy, C. D. and Kamperidis, C. and Lancaster, K. L. and Divall, E. and Krushelnick, K.}, citeulike-article-id = {3203930}, doi = {10.1088/0741-3335/48/12B/S08}, journal = {Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion}, keywords = {laser-wakefield-acceleration}, number = {12B}, pages = {B83--B90}, posted-at = {2008-09-08 05:08:34}, priority = {2}, title = {Effect of laser contrast ratio on electron beam stability in laser wakefield acceleration experiments}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/48/12B/S08}, volume = {48}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:3203930 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3203930 N2 - Laser wakefield accelerators offer the possibility of compact electron acceleration. However one of the key outstanding issues with the results reported to date is the electron beam stability. Experiments on two laser systems reveal that the contrast ratio between the ASE pedestal and main pulse is an important factor in determining the quality of the electron beam. With a high contrast ratio (108) the electron beam profile is a well collimated single beam having a low pointing instability (<10 mrad rms). With a lower contrast (106) the beam profile contains multiple beamlets which exhibit a large pointing instability ([?]50 mrad rms). A high contrast ratio not only improves the beam pointing stability ([?]6 mrad) but also stabilizes the electron beam energy reproducibility (5%). IS - 12B JF - Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion EP - B90 TI - Effect of laser contrast ratio on electron beam stability in laser wakefield acceleration experiments VL - 48 SP - B83 KW - laser-wakefield-acceleration AU - Mangles, SPD AU - Thomas, AGR AU - Kaluza, MC AU - Lundh, O AU - Lindau, F AU - Persson, A AU - Najmudin, Z AU - Wahlström, CG AU - Murphy, CD AU - Kamperidis, C AU - Lancaster, KL AU - Divall, E AU - Krushelnick, K PY - 2006/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/48/12B/S08 ER -