Michail Tzoufras

TL;DR: In this article, a phenomenological framework for laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) in the 3D nonlinear regime was developed, in which the plasma electrons are expelled by the radiation pressure of a short pulse laser, leading to nearly complete blowout.

TL;DR: In this article, a nonlinear kinetic theory for multidimensional plasma wave wakes with phase velocities near the speed of light is presented, which is appropriate for describing plasma wakes excited in the so-called blowout regime by either electron beams or laser pulses.

TL;DR: A theory that describes how to load negative charge into a nonlinear, three-dimensional plasma wakefield is presented and it is shown that very high beam-loading efficiency can be achieved, while the energy spread of the bunch is conserved.

TL;DR: The dynamics of plasma electrons in the focus of a petawatt laser beam are studied via measurements of their x-ray synchrotron radiation, finding the critical energy of the measured syn chrotron spectrum is found to scale as the Maxwellian temperature of the simultaneously measured electron spectra.

Abstract: A theory that describes how to load negative charge into a nonlinear, three-dimensional plasma wakefield is presented. In this regime, a laser or an electron beam blows out the plasma electrons and creates a nearly spherical ion channel, which is modified by the presence of the beam load. Analytical solutions for the fields and the shape of the ion channel are derived. It is shown that very high beam-loading efficiency can be achieved, while the energy spread of the bunch is conserved. The theoretical results are verified with the particle-in-cell code OSIRIS.