Robust relativistic electron mirrors in laser wakefields for enhanced Thomson backscattering

Mu, Jie and Li, Fei Yu and Zeng, Ming and Chen, Min and Sheng, Zheng-Ming and Zhang, Jie (2013) Robust relativistic electron mirrors in laser wakefields for enhanced Thomson backscattering. Applied Physics Letters, 103 (26). 261114. ISSN 0003-6951 (https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4858960)

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Abstract

By adopting an up-ramp density profile, we propose to generate relativistic electron mirrors from laser-driven underdense plasma waves, which are insensitive to finite thermal temperature within a certain range. Along the density ramp, premature wavebreaking due to thermal effects is shown to be well mitigated. Under sufficiently high amplitudes of wake excitation, overcritical dense electron mirrors can pile up when approaching the end of the up-ramp. The consequent mirror speed can be stably driven to the group velocity of the laser propagating in a corresponding uniform plasma. Compared with using purely uniform but thermal plasmas, the present thermal-insensitive mirrors can provide enhanced scattering efficiency and spectral upshift for a counter-propagating probe pulse. These observations are confirmed by multi-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.

  • Item type:Article
    ID code:49206
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    23 December 2013
    Published
    Notes:Copyright (2013) American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in (Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 261114 (2013)) and may be found at (http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4858960).
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:15 Sep 2014 08:21
    Last modified:08 Apr 2024 21:40
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/49206
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