Demonstration of relativistic electron beam focusing by a laser-plasma lens.

ABSTRACT: Laser-plasma technology promises a drastic reduction of the size of high-energy electron accelerators. It could make free-electron lasers available to a broad scientific community and push further the limits of electron accelerators for high-energy physics. Furthermore, the unique femtosecond nature of the source makes it a promising tool for the study of ultrafast phenomena. However, applications are hindered by the lack of suitable lens to transport this kind of high-current electron beams mainly due to their divergence. Here we show that this issue can be solved by using a laser-plasma lens in which the field gradients are five order of magnitude larger than in conventional optics. We demonstrate a reduction of the divergence by nearly a factor of three, which should allow for an effici

SUBMITTER: Thaury C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4410646 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature