Real-time observation of laser-driven electron acceleration

Electron acceleration by laser-driven plasma waves is capableof producing ultra-relativistic, quasi-monoenergetic electron bunches with orders of magnitude higher accelerating gradients and much shorter electron pulses than state-of-the-art radio-frequency accelerators. Recent developments have show...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature physics 2011-07, Vol.7 (7), p.543-548
Main Authors: Buck, Alexander, Veisz, Laszlo, Nicolai, Maria, Schmid, Karl, Sears, Chris M. S, Sävert, Alexander, Mikhailova, Julia M, Krausz, Ferenc, Kaluza, Malte C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acceleration
Atomic
Charge
Charged particles
Classical and Continuum Physics
Complex Systems
Condensed Matter Physics
Electron acceleration
Electron pulses
Electrons
Imaging
Lasers
letter
Mathematical and Computational Physics
Molecular
Optical and Plasma Physics
Particle physics
Photons
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Plasma
Plasma waves
Real time
Theoretical
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Summary:Electron acceleration by laser-driven plasma waves is capableof producing ultra-relativistic, quasi-monoenergetic electron bunches with orders of magnitude higher accelerating gradients and much shorter electron pulses than state-of-the-art radio-frequency accelerators. Recent developments have shown peak energies reaching into the GeV range and improved stability and control over the energy spectrum and charge. Future applications, such as the development of laboratory X-ray sources with unprecedented peak brilliance or ultrafast time-resolved measurements critically rely on a temporal characterization of the acceleration process and the electron bunch. Here, we report the first real-time observation of the accelerated electron pulse and the accelerating plasma wave. Our time-resolved study allows a single-shot measurement of the 5.8−2.1+1.9 fs electron bunch full-width at half-maximum (2.5−0.9+0.8 fs root mean square) as well as the plasma wave with a density-dependent period of 12-22 fs and reveals the evolution of the bunch, its position in the surrounding plasma wave and the wake dynamics. The results afford promise for brilliant, sub-ångström-wavelength ultrafast electron and photon sources for diffraction imaging with atomic resolution in space and time.
ISSN:1745-2473
1745-2481
DOI:10.1038/nphys1942