Electron trapping and acceleration across a parabolic plasma density profile.

ABSTRACT

It is known that as a laser wakefield passes through a downward density transition in a plasma some portion of the background electrons are trapped in the laser wakefield and the trapped electrons are accelerated to relativistic high energies over a very short distance. In this study, by using a two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation, we suggest an experimental scheme that can manipulate electron trapping and acceleration across a parabolic plasma density channel, which is easier to produce and more feasible to apply to the laser wakefield acceleration experiments. In this study, 2D PIC simulation results for the physical characteristics of the electron bunches that are emitted from the parabolic density plasma channel are reported in great detail.