Plasma channel guided laser wakefield accelerator

High quality electron beams (several 109 electrons above 80 MeV energy with percent energy spread and low divergence) have been produced for the first time in a compact, high gradient, all-optical laser accelerator by extending the interaction distance using a pre-formed plasma density channel to guide the drive laser pulse. Laser-driven accelerators, in which particles are accelerated by the electric field of a plasma wave (wake) driven by the radiation pressure of an intense laser, have over the past decade demonstrated accelerating fields thousands of times greater than those achievable in conventional radio-frequency accelerators. This has spurred interest in them as compact next-generation sources of energetic electrons and radiation. To date, however, acceleration distances have been severely limited by the lack of a controllable method for extending the propagation distance of the focused laser pulse. The ensuing short acceleration distance resulted in low-energy beams with 100 percent electron energy spread, which has limited potential applications.; Optical guiding of relativistically intense (>1018 W/cm 2) laser pulses over distances greater than 10 diffraction lengths is demonstrated herein using plasma channels, which have a density minimum on the axis of propagation, formed by hydrodynamic shock. Laser modes with peak powers of up to 4 TW---twice the self-guiding threshold---were guided without aberration by tuning the plasma density profile. The transmitted optical spectrum showed that the pulse remained in the channel over the entire length, and no accelerated electrons were observed at these powers. Simulations indicated that a large plasma wave was driven by the 4 TW pulse, indicating a possible dark current free structure for a laser wakefield accelerator using controlled injection. The presence of a large plasma wave was verified by increasing laser power and observing electron acceleration.; At a guided drive pulse power of 9 TW (500 mJ in 50 fs), electrons were trapped from the background plasma and accelerated. Tuning of the plasma density, laser power, and channel shape produced electron bunches with several 10 9 electrons within a few percent of a single high energy and with an emittance (focusability) competitive with state of the art conventional accelerators. Electron bunch energy was above 80 MeV using a 2 mm plasma channel, and energies as high as 150--170 MeV were observed. The presence of high energy electrons was highly correlated to well guided optical pulses. Measurements in pre-ionized plasmas with no channel structure confirmed that the enhancement was due to channeling not ionization.; The experiments and simulations in this dissertation indicate that the guiding of intense laser pulses in pre-formed plasma channels is an important building block for laser plasma accelerators, facilitating scaling to higher energies and beam quality. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...