Particle acceleration in plasma

By Prof. C. S. Liu
President, National Central University, Taiwan & Department of Physics, NCU & University of Maryland in collaboration with S. H. Chen, S. Y. Chen, J. Wang, N. Kumar, Y. Kuramitsu, and B. Eliasson

Outline
Plasma universe Plasma wave excitation Laser driven acceleration and production of the monoenergetic electrons beam Ion acceleration Concluding remark

Plasma universe
Three minutes after Big Bang ----- Plasma dominated universe Radio jets, X-ray sources, -ray bursts, pulsar, accretion disk etc. We observed this universe mostly by EM waves, its dispersion, e.g. distance of pulsars by dispersion relation, 2 = 2 + k 2c 2 p

Cosmic ray acceleration

Why plasma is such a capitalistic society in which so much energy is given to so few electrons ??

Eugene Parker

Monoenergetic electron beam by short pulse laser

Observation of monoenergetic beam of electrons with energy 50-170 MeV by three groups.
Mangles et.al, Nature, 431, 535 (2004), Faure et.al., Nature, 431, 541 (2004), Geddes et.al., Nature, 431, 538 (2004)

Acceleration of a SLAC electron beam

Demonstration of acceleration in beam driven wakefield (SLAC) Hogan et.al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 054802 (2005)

First direct measurement of acceleration gradient; eE=2.5 GeV/m ~ 103 of linac.

Chen, et.al.(Particle accelerator group, Academia Sinica, NCU)

Plasma as medium for waves

Plasma wave
linear
2 2 = 2 + 3k 2v e p
2 2 = k 2 c s
2 2 = 2 + k 2 c p

v e = kB Te me

Ion wave
EM wave

p 2 = 4 ne 2 m e
c s = k B Te M i

Plasma effects on light; 1) Dispersion:

v Oscillatory velocity, osc = eE m 0c, j = nev osc

2

v ph = /k = c[1+ p /k 2c 2 ] > c, v g = c 2 /v ph c[1 p 2 / 2 ] < c

2) Ponderomotive pressure:

In linear theory, no acceleration is possible by direct light wave but by plasma wave and ion wave: Cherenkov resonance, v = k

nm 2 eE os = n a 2 = mc 2 , a = 2 m0 c

Electron can be accelerated by plasma wave: v = p k Acceleration gradient of plasma wave can be large
Maximum acceleration gradient limited by the wave breaking

v osc

eE mc 2 p 3 ~ c or E 0 [V /cm] = = 0.96 n 0 [cm ] Non-relativistic wavee c m p breaking amplitude

giving, E 0 = 100 GV m , for

n 0 = 1018 [cm 3 ],mc 2 0.5MeV,.c / p 1m

SLAC on a slab !!!

Relativistic wave-breaking amplitude

E R [V / cm]= E 0 p 1

E R >> E 0

p = (1 v ph 2 /c 2 )1/ 2 is the Lorentz factor for plasma wave

How to generate plasma wave ??

1. Mode conversion 2. Beat wave excitation with two laser pulses 3. Raman scattering 4. Relativistic wake plasma wave excitation by electron beam or short pulse laser

1) Mode conversion
An EM wave obliquely propagates into a plasma with density gradient.
eE x E x v 0x = im 0

= p

+
kx = 0

k =0
x

at

n n = v 0x 0 t x

0 = p

An oscillatory current can cause space charge oscillations. EM wave ES wave

2) Beat wave excitation

Two long laser pulses E 0 = E0 sin(k0 x 0 t ), E1 = E1sin(k1 x 1t ) Plasma wave excitation possible if, 0 = 1 + p , k0 = k1 + k p
Backscattering, k1 k 0 , k p = 2k 0 , Forward scattering,

p ,k p p ,k p

k p = k 0 k1 = p /c

Maximum saturated amplitude of the plasma wave due to relativistic mass effect eE E max = (16 / 3)1/ 3 << 1 = , j = 1,2
j

E0

m j c

(Rosenbluth and Liu, PRL, 1972)

3) Raman Scattering by Plasma Wave

Laser light: a0 ( 0 , k0) Scattered light: a1 (1,k1 ) Plasma: n p

Feed back

Current: j = n p v

Instability

p 1/ 2 Growth rate: = kv 0 , p << 0 0 kmax = 2k 0 , kmin = p /c

Raman scattering causes electron acceleration

4) Relativistic wake plasma wave excitation by electron beam or short pulse laser

Maximum electric field of the plasma wave

E max n b = E0 n0

Laser wakefield acceleration and ion channel formation in laser

Micro magnetosphere Relativistic self focusing
Laser power, P Pcr where
2 Pcr = 17 2 GW p

Relativistic dielectric constant

2 p = 1 2

Relativistic effect

increases

2 Ponderomotive effect p decreases

Resultant effect

ion channel formation

2D PIC Simulation of Injection and Acceleration of Mono-Energetic Electrons in a Laser Wake Field Accelerator by S. H. Chen and L. C. Tai Academia Sinica
Plasma Density = 4.0e25 m^-3
Peak Laser Intensity = 8.0e+18 // W/cm Pulse Length (FWHM) = 45.0e-15 // s Laser Wavelength = 0.81e-06 // m Bandwidth = 0.027e-06 // m, for chirped pulse Waist Size = 4e-06 // m

Initial Plasma Density

Time = 0.735ps

Time = 0.829 ps

Time = 1 ps

Time = 1.1 ps

50 MeV mono energetic electron beam

The wake field bunches the electrons in real space.

Time = 1.1 ps

The modulated laser field traps electrons and push electrons moving with the laser pulse. Time = 1.1 ps

The modulated laser field traps electrons and push electrons moving with the laser pulse. (The plasma is turned off at time = 1.33 ps)
50 MeV mono energetic electron beam

Time = 1.43 ps

Ez of laser pulse

Large time ~ pi-1, ions move Ion acceleration

Borghesi et.al, PRL, 94, 195003 (2005)

Concluding remark
With the recent breakthroughs in the plasma accelerator research, we can envisage that 21st century will be a century of plasma science and technology.

Thank you