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Persistent URL http://purl.org/net/epubs/work/25458169
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Record Id 25458169
Title Spontaneous emergence of non-planar electron orbits during direct laser acceleration by a linearly polarized laser pulse
Contributors
Abstract An electron irradiated by a linearly polarized relativistic intensity laser pulse in a cylindrical plasma channel can gain significant energy from the pulse. The laser electric and magnetic fields drive electron oscillations in a plane making it natural to expect the electron trajectory to be flat. We show that strong modulations of the relativistic γ-factor associated with the energy enhancement cause the free oscillations perpendicular to the plane of the driven motion to become unstable. As a consequence, out of plane displacements grow to become comparable to the amplitude of the driven oscillations and the electron trajectory becomes essentially three-dimensional, even if at an early stage of the acceleration it was flat. The development of the instability profoundly affects the x-ray emission, causing considerable divergence of the radiation perpendicular to the plane of the driven oscillations, while also reducing the overall emitted energy.
Organisation CLF , CI , STFC
Keywords
Funding Information AFOSR (FA9550-14-1-0045); USADOE (DE-FG02- 04ER54742); USADOE (DE-NA0002008); USADOE (DE-NA0002723); USADOE (DE-SC0007889); USADOE (DE-SC0010622)
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Language English (EN)
Type Details URI(s) Local file(s) Year
Journal Article Phys Plasmas 23, no. 2 (2016): 023111. doi:10.1063/1.4942036 2016