CERN Accelerating science

Published Articles
Report number	CERN-ACC-2015-0378
Title	Simulation of density measurements in plasma wakefields using photo acceleration
Author(s)	Kasim, Muhammad Firmansyah (John Adams Institute, Oxford) ; Ratan, Naren (Clarendon Lab, Oxford University) ; Ceurvorst, Luke (Clarendon Lab, Oxford University) ; Sadler, James (Clarendon Lab, Oxford University) ; Burrows, Philip N (John Adams Institute, Oxford) ; Trines, Raoul (STFC Rutherford Appleton Lab, Didcot) ; Holloway, James (University College London) ; Wing, Matthew (University College London) ; Bingham, Robert (STFC Rutherford Appleton Lab, Didcot) ; Norreys, Peter (Oxford University and STFC Rutherford Appleton Lab, Didcot)
Publication	2015
Imprint	2015-03-17
In:	Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 18 (2015) 032801
DOI	10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.18.032801
Subject category	Accelerators and Storage Rings ; 13: Novel Acceleration Techniques (ANAC2) ; 13.1: Coordination and Communication
Abstract	One obstacle in plasma accelerator development is the limitation of techniques to diagnose and measure plasma wakefield parameters. In this paper, we present a novel concept for the density measurement of a plasma wakefield using photon acceleration, supported by extensive particle in cell simulations of a laser pulse that copropagates with a wakefield. The technique can provide the perturbed electron density profile in the laser’s reference frame, averaged over the propagation length, to be accurate within 10%. We discuss the limitations that affect the measurement: small frequency changes, photon trapping, laser displacement, stimulated Raman scattering, and laser beam divergence. By considering these processes, one can determine the optimal parameters of the laser pulse and its propagation length. This new technique allows a characterization of the density perturbation within a plasma wakefield accelerator.

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