Publications

We discuss the x-ray generation by electrons ac-celerated in the relativistic self-trapping regime of laser pulse propagation. It is shown that the secondary radiation has a high brightness. At the same time, this regime is accompanied by the particle interaction with a laser pulse that ensures partial polarization of synchrotron radiation and its nonisotropic angular distributions.

The fourth generation of synchrotron radiation sources, commonly referred to as the Free Electron Laser (FEL), provides an intense source of brilliant X-ray beams enabling the investigation of matter at the atomic scale with unprecedented time resolution. These sources require the use of conventional linear accelerators providing high electron beam performance. The achievement of chirped pulse amplification allowing lasers to be operated at the Terawatt range, opened the way for the Laser Plasma Acceleration (LPA) technique where high energy electron bunches with high current can be produced within a very short centimeter-scale distance. Such an advanced acceleration concept is of great interest to be qualified by an FEL application for compact X-ray light sources. We explore in this paper what the LPA specificities imply on the design of the undulator, part of the gain medium. First, the LPA concept and state-of-art are presented showing the different operation regimes and what electron beam parameters are likely to be achieved. The LPA scaling laws are discussed afterwards to better understand what laser or plasma parameters have to be adjusted in order to improve electron beam quality. The FEL is secondly discussed starting with the spontaneous emission, followed by the different FEL configurations, the electron beam transport to the undulator and finally the scaling laws and correction terms in the high gain case. Then, the different types of compact undulators that can be implemented for an LPA based FEL application are analyzed. Finally, examples of relevant experiments are reported by describing the transport beamline, presenting the spontaneous emission characteristics achieved so far and the future prospects.

We study numerically the mechanisms of proton acceleration in gas–foil targets driven by an ultraintense femtosecond laser pulse. The target consists of a near-critical-density hydrogen gas layer of a few tens of microns attached to a 2 μ m-thick solid carbon foil with a contaminant thin proton layer at its back side. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that, at optimal gas density, the maximum energy of the contaminant protons is increased by a factor of ∼ 4 compared with a single foil target. This improvement originates from the near-complete laser absorption into relativistic electrons in the gas. Several energetic electron populations are identified, and their respective effect on the proton acceleration is quantified by computing the electrostatic fields that they generate at the protons’ positions. While each of those electron groups is found to contribute substantially to the overall accelerating field, the dominant one is the relativistic thermal bulk that results from the nonlinear wakefield excited in the gas, as analysed recently by Debayle et al. (New J. Phys., vol. 19, 2017, 123013). Our analysis also reveals the important role of the neighbouring ions in the acceleration of the fastest protons, and the onset of multidimensional effects caused by the time-increasing curvature of the proton layer.

Acceleration of ultrathin foils by the laser radiation pressure promises a compact alternative to the conventional ion sources. Among the challenges on the way to practical realization, one fundamental is a strong transverse plasma instability, which develops density perturbations and breaks the acceleration. In this Letter, we develop a theoretical model supported by three-dimensional numerical simulations to explain the transverse instability growth from noise to wave breaking and its crucial effect on stopping the acceleration. The wave-broken nonlinear mode triggers rapid stochastic heating that finally explodes the target. Possible paths to mitigate this problem for getting efficient ion acceleration are discussed.

An ultrafast intense laser pulse drives coherent wakefields of relativistic amplitude with a high phase velocity robustly supported by the plasma. The structures of wakes and sheaths in plasma are contrasted. While the large amplitude of wakefields involves collective resonant oscillations of the eigenmode of the entire population of plasma electrons, the wake phase velocity ~c and ultrafast nature of the laser pulse introduce the wake stability and rigidity. When the phase velocity decreases, wakefields turn into sheaths, which are more suitable for ion acceleration. This short review reports on 4 decades of discoveries on laser plasma accelerators.

Laser-accelerated protons have a great potential for innovative experiments in radiation biology due to the sub-picosecond pulse duration and high dose rate achievable. However, the broad angular divergence makes them not optimal for applications with stringent requirements on dose homogeneity and total flux at the irradiated target. The strategy otherwise adopted to increase the homogeneity is to increase the distance between the source and the irradiation plane or to spread the beam with flat scattering systems or through the transport system itself. Such methods considerably reduce the proton flux and are not optimal for laser-accelerated protons. In this paper we demonstrate the use of a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to design an optimal non-flat scattering system to shape the beam and efficiently flatten the transversal dose distribution at the irradiated target. The system is placed in the magnetic transport system to take advantage of the presence of chromatic focusing elements to further mix the proton trajectories. The effect of a flat scattering system placed after the transport system is also presented for comparison. The general structure of the GA and its application to the shaping of a laser-accelerated proton beam are presented, as well as its application to the optimisation of dose distribution in a water target in air.

During the past few years high-order harmonic generation (HHG) has opened up the field of ultrafast spectroscopy to an ever larger community by providing a table-top and affordable femtosecond extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft-x-ray source. In particular, the field of femtomagnetism has largely benefited from the development of these sources. However, the use of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) as a probe of magnetization, the most versatile and reliable one, has been constrained by the lack of polarization control at HHG sources, so studies have relied on more specific magneto-optical effects. Even the recent developments on the generation of elliptically polarized harmonics have only resulted in a few time-resolved experiments relying on this powerful technique since they add complexity to already-difficult measurements. In this article we show how to easily probe magnetization dynamics with linearly polarized EUV or soft-x-ray light with a versatility similar to XMCD by exploiting the Faraday effect. Static and time-resolved measurements of the Faraday effect are presented around the Co M edges. Using simple theoretical considerations, we show how to retrieve the samples magnetization dynamics from the Faraday rotation and ellipticity transients. Ultrafast demagnetization dynamics of a few nanometers in Co-based samples are measured with this method in out-of-plane as well as in-plane magnetization configurations, showing its great potential for the study of femtomagnetism.

Diffraction puts a fundamental limit on the distance over which a light beam can remain focused. For about 30 years, several techniques to overcome this limit have been demonstrated. Here, we propose a reflective optics, namely, the axiparabola, that allows to extend the production of “diffraction-free” beams to high-peak-power and broadband laser pulses. We first describe the properties of this aspheric optics. We then analyze and compare its performances in numerical simulations and in experiments. Finally, we use it to produce a plasma waveguide that can guide an intense laser pulse over 10 millimeters.

In radiation pressure ion acceleration (RPA) research, the transverse stability within laser plasma interaction has been a long-standing, crucial problem over the past decades. In this paper, we present a one-dimensional two-fluid theory extended from a recent work Wan et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 234801 (2016)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.117.234801 to clearly clarify the origin of the intrinsic transverse instability in the RPA process. It is demonstrated that the purely growing density fluctuations are more likely induced due to the strong coupling between the fast oscillating electrons and quasistatic ions via the ponderomotive force with spatial variations. The theory contains a full analysis of both electrostatic (ES) and electromagnetic modes and confirms that the ES mode actually dominates the whole RPA process at the early linear stage. By using this theory one can predict the mode structure and growth rate of the transverse instability in terms of a wide range of laser plasma parameters. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are systematically carried out to verify the theory and formulas in different regimes, and good agreements have been obtained, indicating that the electron-ion coupled instability is the major factor that contributes the transverse breakup of the target in RPA process.

With gigaelectron-volts per centimetre energy gains and femtosecond electron beams, laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) is a promising candidate for applications, such as ultrafast electron diffraction, multistaged colliders and radiation sources (betatron, compton, undulator, free electron laser). However, for some of these applications, the beam performance, for example, energy spread, divergence and shot-to-shot fluctuations, need a drastic improvement. Here, we show that, using a dedicated transport line, we can mitigate these initial weaknesses. We demonstrate that we can manipulate the beam longitudinal and transverse phase-space of the presently available LWFA beams. Indeed, we separately correct orbit mis-steerings and minimise dispersion thanks to specially designed variable strength quadrupoles, and select the useful energy range passing through a slit in a magnetic chicane. Therefore, this matched electron beam leads to the successful observation of undulator synchrotron radiation after an 8m transport path. These results pave the way to applications demanding in terms of beam quality.

We demonstrate experimentally the control of the polarization (ellipticity and polarization axis) of femtosecond high-order harmonics. The method relies on a two-color (ω - 2ω) configuration, where both ω and 2ω generating fields have linear polarizations with a variable crossing angle. We correlate our measurements with the conservation rules of energy and linear momentum accounting for harmonic generation in a two-color field. We evidence that the generation process, and especially the number of ω and 2ω photons absorbed for generating a given harmonic, strongly depends on the crossing angle. Finally, relying on a simple formalism, we derive analytical formulæ for calculating both polarization axis and ellipticity of the separate harmonics. The model corroborates our results and represents a base for future investigations.

Technology based on high-peak-power lasers has the potential to provide compact and intense radiation sources for a wide range of innovative applications. In particular, electrons that are accelerated in the wakefield of an intense laser pulse oscillate around the propagation axis and emit X-rays. This betatron source, which essentially reproduces the principle of a synchrotron at the millimeter scale, provides bright radiation with femtosecond duration and high spatial coherence. However, despite its unique features, the usability of the betatron source has been constrained by its poor control and stability. In this article, we demonstrate the reliable production of X-ray beams with tunable polarization. Using ionization-induced injection in a gas mixture, the orbits of the relativistic electrons emitting the radiation are reproducible and controlled. We observe that both the signal and beam profile fluctuations are significantly reduced and that the beam pointing varies by less than a tenth of the beam divergence. The polarization ratio reaches 80%, and the polarization axis can easily be rotated. We anticipate a broad impact of the source, as its unprecedented performance opens the way for new applications.

The achievable energy and the stability of accelerated electron beams have been the most critical issues in laser wakefield acceleration. As laser propagation, plasma wave formation and electron acceleration are highly nonlinear processes, the laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) is extremely sensitive to initial experimental conditions. We propose a simple and elegant waveform control method for the LWFA process to enhance the performance of a laser electron accelerator by applying a fully optical and programmable technique to control the chirp of PW laser pulses. We found sensitive dependence of energy and stability of electron beams on the spectral phase of laser pulses and obtained stable 2-GeV electron beams from a 1-cm gas cell of helium. The waveform control technique for LWFA would prompt practical applications of centimeter-scale GeV-electron accelerators to a compact radiation sources in the x-ray and gamma-ray regions.

The quality of laser wakefield accelerated electrons beams is strongly determined by the physical mechanism exploited to inject electrons in the wakefield. One of the techniques used to improve the beam quality is the density transition injection, where the electron trapping occurs as the laser pulse passes a sharp density transition created in the plasma. Although this technique has been widely demonstrated experimentally, the literature lacks theoretical and numerical studies on the effects of all the transition parameters. We thus report and discuss the results of a series of particle in cell (PIC) simulations where the density transition height and downramp length are systematically varied, to show how the electron beam parameters and the injection mechanism are affected by the density transition parameters.

We briefly summarize the contributions that have been presented in the 5 working group 1 (WG1) sessions dedicated to electron beam from plasmas. 

Ion acceleration from intense (I lambda(2) > 1018 Wcm(-2) mu m(2)) laser-plasma interaction is experimentally studied within a wide range of He gas densities. Focusing an ultrashort pulse (duration. ion plasma period) on a newly designed submillimetric gas jet system, enabled us to inhibit total evacuation of electrons from the central propagation channel reducing the radial ion acceleration associated with ponderomotive Coulomb explosion, a mechanism predominant in the long pulse scenario. New ion acceleration mechanism have been unveiled in this regime leading to non-Maxwellian quasi monoenergetic features in the ion energy spectra. The emitted nonthermal ion bunches show a new scaling of the ion peak energy with plasma density. The scaling identified in this new regime differs from previously reported studies.

Laser-based accelerators are gaining interest in recent years as an alternative to conventional machines [1]. In the actual ion acceleration scheme, energy and angular spread of the laser-driven beams are the main limiting factors for beam applications and different solutions for dedicated beam-transport lines have been proposed [2, 3]. In this context a system of Permanent Magnet Quadrupoles (PMQs) has been realized [4] by INFN-LNS (Laboratori Nazionali del Sud of the Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) researchers, in collaboration with SIGMAPHI company in France, to be used as a collection and pre-selection system for laser driven proton beams. This system is meant to be a prototype to a more performing one [5] to be installed at ELI-Beamlines for the collection of ions. The final system is designed for protons and carbons up to 60 MeV/u. In order to validate the design and the performances of this large bore, compact, high gradient magnetic system prototype an experimental campaign have been carried out, in collaboration with the group of the SAPHIR experimental facility at LOA (Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquee) in Paris using a 200 TW Ti:Sapphire laser system. During this campaign a deep study of the quadrupole system optics has been performed, comparing the results with the simulation codes used to determine the setup of the PMQ system and to track protons with realistic TNSA-like divergence and spectrum. Experimental and simulation results are good agreement, demonstrating the possibility to have a good control on the magnet optics. The procedure used during the experimental campaign and the most relevant results are reported here.

The laser-plasma accelerator (LPA) presently provides electron beams with a typical current of a few kA, a bunch length of a few fs, energy in the few hundred MeV to several GeV range, a divergence of typically 1 mrad, an energy spread of the order of 1%, and a normalized emittance of the order of pi.mm. mrad. One of the first applications could be to use these beams for the production of radiation: undulator emission has been observed but the rather large energy spread (1%) and divergence (1 mrad) prevent straightforward free-electron laser (FEL) amplification. An adequate beam manipulation through the transport to the undulator is then required. The key concept proposed here relies on an innovative electron beam longitudinal and transverse manipulation in the transport towards an undulator: a 'demixing' chicane sorts the electrons according to their energy and reduces the spread from 1% to one slice of a few parts per thousand and the effective transverse size is maintained constant along the undulator (supermatching) by a proper synchronization of the electron beam focusing with the progress of the optical wave. A test experiment for the demonstration of FEL amplification with an LPA is under preparation. Electron beam transport follows different steps with strong focusing with permanent magnet quadrupoles of variable strength, a demixing chicane with conventional dipoles, and a second set of quadrupoles for further focusing in the undulator. The FEL simulations and the progress of the preparation of the experiment are presented.

Ionization injection is a simple and efficient method to trap an electron beam in a laser plasma accelerator. Yet, because of a long injection length, this injection technique leads generally to the production of large energy spread electron beams. Here, we propose to use a shock front transition to localize the injection. Experimental results show that the energy spread can be reduced down to 10 MeV and that the beam energy can be tuned by varying the position of the shock. This simple technique leads to very stable and reliable injection even for modest laser energy. It should therefore become a unique tool for the development of laser-plasma accelerators.

While large efforts have been devoted to improving the quality of electron beams from laser plasma accelerators, often to the detriment of the charge, many applications do not require very high quality but high-charge beams. Despite this need, the acceleration of largely charged beams has been barely studied. Here we explore both experimentally and numerically the physics of highly loaded wakefield acceleration. We find that the shape of the electron spectra is strikingly independent of the laser energy, due to the emergence of a saturation effect induced by beamloading. A transition from quasi-Maxwellian spectra at high plasma densities to flatter spectra at lower densities is also found, which is shown to be produced by the wakefield driven by the electron bunch itself after the laser depletion.

The onset and evolution of magnetic fields in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas is determined by several mechanisms(1), including instabilities(2,3), dynamo effects(4,5) and ultrahigh-energy particle flows through gas, plasma(6,7) and interstellar media(8,9). These processes are relevant over a wide range of conditions, from cosmic ray acceleration and gamma ray bursts to nuclear fusion in stars. The disparate temporal and spatial scales where each process operates can be reconciled by scaling parameters that enable one to emulate astrophysical conditions in the laboratory. Here we unveil a new mechanism by which the flow of ultra-energetic particles in a laser-wakefield accelerator strongly magnetizes the boundary between plasma and non-ionized gas. We demonstrate, from time-resolved large-scale magnetic-field measurements and full-scale particle-in-cell simulations, the generation of strong magnetic fields up to 10-100 tesla (corresponding to nT in astrophysical conditions). These results open new paths for the exploration and modelling of ultrahigh-energy particle-driven magnetic-field generation in the laboratory.

Free-electron lasers (FELs) are a unique source of light, particularly in the x-ray domain. After the success of FELs based on conventional acceleration using radio-frequency cavities, an important challenge is the development of FELs based on electron bunching accelerated by a laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA). However, the present LWFA electron bunch properties do not permit use directly for a significant FEL amplification. It is known that longitudinal decompression of electron beams delivered by state-of-the-art LWFA eases the FEL process. We propose here a second order transverse beam manipulation turning the large inherent transverse chromatic emittances of LWFA beams into direct FEL gain advantage. Numerical simulations are presented showing that this beam manipulation can further enhance by orders of magnitude the peak power of the radiation.

We propose and discuss a numerical method to model electromagnetic emission from the oscillating relativistic charged particles and its coherent amplification. The developed technique is well suited for free electron laser simulations, but it may also be useful for a wider range of physical problems involving resonant field-particles interactions. The algorithm integrates the unaveraged coupled equations for the particles and the electromagnetic fields in a discrete spectral domain. Using this algorithm, it is possible to perform full three-dimensional or axisymmetric simulations of short-wavelength amplification. In this paper we describe the method, its implementation, and we present examples of free electron laser simulations comparing the results with the ones provided by commonly known free electron laser codes.

The recent advances in developing compact laser plasma accelerators that deliver high quality electron beams in a more reliable way offer the possibility to consider their use in designing a compact free electron laser (FEL). Because of the particularity of these beams ( especially concerning the divergence and the energy spread), specific electron beam handling is proposed in order to achieve FEL amplification.

The propagation of a relativistic electron bunch through a plasma is an important problem in both plasma-wakefield acceleration and laser-wakefield acceleration. In those situations, the charge of the accelerated bunch is usually large enough to drive a relativistic wakefield, which then affects the transverse dynamics of the bunch itself. Yet to date, there is no fully relativistic, fully electromagnetic model that describes the generation of this wakefield and its feedback on the bunch. In this article, we derive a model which takes into account all the relevant relativistic and electromagnetic effects involved in the problem. A very good agreement is found between the model and the results of particle-in-cell simulations. The implications of high-charge effects for the transport of the bunch are discussed in detail. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

The transverse properties of an electron beam are characterized by two quantities, the emittance which indicates the electron beam extent in the phase space and the angular momentum which allows for nonplanar electron trajectories. Whereas the emittance of electron beams produced in a laser-plasma accelerator has been measured in several experiments, their angular momentum has been scarcely studied. It was demonstrated that electrons in a laser-plasma accelerator carry some angular momentum, but its origin was not established. Here we identify one source of angular-momentum growth and we present experimental results showing that the angular-momentum content evolves during the acceleration.

We present a bright and coherent soft x-ray source based on high harmonic generation delivering up to 10(10) photons per second centered at 120 eV within an 80 eV bandwidth. The source profits from fully phase-matched harmonic generation in an unmodulated hollow waveguide. Under these conditions, the resulting high harmonic spectrum is shown to be flat-top up to the cutoff photon energy and in line with the theoretical single-atom response. The source is characterized in view of seeding a free-electron laser and is shown to overcome the free-electron laser noise floor for wavelengths as short as 8.9 nm. This opens the perspective toward direct high harmonic seeding of a free-electron laser at soft x-ray wavelengths.

Spectral measurements of visible coherent transition radiation produced by a laser-plasma-accelerated electron beam are reported. The significant periodic modulations that are observed in the spectrum result from the interference of transition radiation produced by multiple bunches of electrons. A Fourier analysis of the spectral interference fringes reveals that electrons are injected and accelerated in multiple plasma wave periods, up to at least 10 periods behind the laser pulse. The bunch separation scales with the plasma wavelength when the plasma density is changed over a wide range. An analysis of the spectral fringe visibility indicates that the first bunch contains most of the charge. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.065005

We show that electron bunches in the 50-100 keV range can be produced from a laser wakefield accelerator using 10 mJ, 35 fs laser pulses operating at 0.5 kHz. It is shown that using a solenoid magnetic lens, the electron bunch distribution can be shaped. The resulting transverse and longitudinal coherence is suitable for producing diffraction images from a polycrystalline 10 nm aluminum foil. The high repetition rate, the stability of the electron source, and the fact that its uncorrelated bunch duration is below 100 fs make this approach promising for the development of sub-100 fs ultrafast electron diffraction experiments. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4792057]

Laser-plasma accelerators can produce high-quality electron beams, up to giga electronvolts in energy, from a centimetre scale device. The properties of the electron beams and the accelerator stability are largely determined by the injection stage of electrons into the accelerator. The simplest mechanism of injection is self-injection, in which the wakefield is strong enough to trap cold plasma electrons into the laser wake. The main drawback of this method is its lack of shot-to-shot stability. Here we present experimental and numerical results that demonstrate the existence of two different self-injection mechanisms. Transverse self-injection is shown to lead to low stability and poor-quality electron beams, because of a strong dependence on the intensity profile of the laser pulse. In contrast, longitudinal injection, which is unambiguously observed for the first time, is shown to lead to much more stable acceleration and higher-quality electron beams.

An integral back-transform has been developed to retrieve the polar magnetic component in a cylindrically symmetric plasma from a single projection. The formula is derived from parallel forward Radon transform (Abel transform) of a source-free vector field. Two numerical schemes are proposed to solve the backward transform. These schemes have been tested successfully with predefined plasma parameters. The practical application to the analysis of experimental Faraday rotation measurements is also presented, leading to the reconstruction of the transverse profile of the magnetic field. 

Purpose: To evaluate the dose distribution of a 120-MeV laser-plasma accelerated electron beam which may be of potential interest for high-energy electron radiation therapy.Methods: In the interaction between an intense laser pulse and a helium gas jet, a well collimated electron beam with very high energy is produced. A secondary laser beam is used to optically control and to tune the electron beam energy and charge. The potential use of this beam for radiation treatment is evaluated experimentally by measurements of dose deposition in a polystyrene phantom. The results are compared to Monte Carlo simulations using the GEANT4 code.Results: It has been shown that the laser-plasma accelerated electron beam can deliver a peak dose of more than 1 Gy at the entrance of the phantom in a single laser shot by direct irradiation, without the use of intermediate magnetic transport or focusing. The dose distribution is peaked on axis, with narrow lateral penumbra. Monte Carlo simulations of electron beam propagation and dose deposition indicate that the propagation of the intense electron beam (with large self-fields) can be described by standard models that exclude collective effects in the response of the material.Conclusions: The measurements show that the high-energy electron beams produced by an optically injected laser-plasma accelerator can deliver high enough dose at penetration depths of interest for electron beam radiotherapy of deep-seated tumors. Many engineering issues must be resolved before laser-accelerated electrons can be used for cancer therapy, but they also represent exciting challenges for future research.

Simulations performed with the particle-in-cell code Calder Circ show the feasibility of injection and acceleration of electrons in the laser wakefield created by few-femtosecond laser pulses with moderate energy at the few mJ level. A detailed study of the effect of the carrier-envelope phase of the pulse on the injection is presented. It is shown that using ionization injection with nitrogen as the target gas, the control of the optical phase allows production of high-quality and shot-to-shot stable electron beams. The electron bunches obtained have a relative energy spread of a few per cent, a bunch duration in the sub-fs domain, a divergence close to 10 mrad and a peak energy in the 10 MeV range, and could be produced in the near future at kHz repetition rates.

One of the major goals of research for laser-plasma accelerators(1) is the realization of compact sources of femtosecond X-rays(2-4). In particular, using the modest electron energies obtained with existing laser systems, Compton scattering a photon beam off a relativistic electron bunch has been proposed as a source of high-energy and high-brightness photons. However, laser-plasma based approaches to Compton scattering have not, to date, produced X-rays above 1 keV. Here, we present a simple and compact scheme for a Compton source based on the combination of a laser-plasma accelerator and a plasma mirror. This approach is used to produce a broadband spectrum of X-rays extending up to hundreds of keV and with a 10,000-fold increase in brightness over Compton X-ray sources based on conventional accelerators(5,6). We anticipate that this technique will lead to compact, high-repetition-rate sources of ultrafast (femtosecond), tunable (X-through gamma-ray) and low-divergence (similar to 1 degrees) photons from source sizes on the order of a micrometre.

We report on the characterization of recently developed submillimetric He gas jets with peak density higher than 10(21) atoms/cm(3) from cylindrical and slightly conical nozzles of throat diameter of less than 400 mu m. Helium gas at pressure 300-400 bar has been developed for this purpose to compensate the nozzle throat diameter reduction that affects the output mass flow rate. The fast-switching electro-valve enables to operate the jet safely for multi-stage vacuum pump assembly. Such gaseous thin targets are particularly suitable for laser-plasma interaction studies in the unexplored near-critical regime.

The x-ray emission in laser-plasma accelerators can be a powerful tool to understand the physics of relativistic laser-plasma interaction. It is shown here that the mapping of betatron x-ray radiation can be obtained from the x-ray beam profile when an aperture mask is positioned just beyond the end of the emission region. The influence of the plasma density on the position and the longitudinal profile of the x-ray emission is investigated and compared to particle-in-cell simulations. The measurement of the x-ray emission position and length provides insight on the dynamics of the interaction, including the electron self-injection region, possible multiple injection, and the role of the electron beam driven wakefield.

Gamma-ray beams with optimal and tuneable size, temperature, and dose are of great interest for a large variety of applications. These photons can be produced by the conversion of energetic electrons through the bremsstrahlung process in a dense material. This work presents the experimental demonstration of 30 μm resolution radiography of dense objects using an optimized gamma-ray source, produced with a high-quality electron beam delivered by a compact laser-plasma accelerator.

Betatron x-ray radiation in laser-plasma accelerators is produced when electrons are accelerated and wiggled in the laser-wakefield cavity. This femtosecond source, producing intense x-ray beams in the multi-kiloelectronvolt (keV) range, has been observed at different interaction regimes using a high-power laser from 10 to 100 TW. However, none of the spectral measurements carried out were at sufficient resolution, bandwidth and signal-to-noise ratio to precisely determine the shape of spectra with a single laser shot in order to avoid shot-to-shot fluctuations. In this paper, the Betatron radiation produced using a 80 TW laser is characterized by using a single photon counting method. We measure in a single shot spectra from 8 to 21 keV with a resolution better than 350 eV. The results obtained are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions and demonstrate the synchrotron-type nature of this radiation mechanism. The critical energy is found to be E-c = 5.6 +/- 1 keV for our experimental conditions. In addition, the features of the source at this energy range open up novel opportunities for applications in time-resolved x-ray science.

The present paper elaborates on the cold injection scheme, which was recently proposed in the context of laser wakefield acceleration (Davoine et al 2009 Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 065001). This scheme allows one to inject a bunch of electrons into a laser wakefield, which is possible thanks to the collision between the main and a counter-propagating laser pulse. Unlike in the conventional colliding pulse schemes, in this process, a beatwave is created during the collision, which allows the injection of electrons with negligible heating. In this paper, we show that the injection of on-axis electrons observed in simulations is well described by a one-dimensional (1D) model, as long as conditions given here are satisfied. Injection of off-axis electrons is also influenced by transverse effects, but the basic mechanisms remain the same. Then, a comparison with the conventional colliding pulse schemes shows that each scheme can occur in different regimes. In particular, cold injection proves to be more interesting regarding the energy spread issue. Indeed, the simulations demonstrate that electron bunches with sub-MeV absolute energy spreads can be injected, leading, after acceleration, to electrons at several GeV and relative energy spread below 1%.

The study of the interaction between ultrashort laser pulses at relativistic intensities and solid matter has promoted, in recent years, a promising way of investigating ultrafast phenomena and has suggested the possibility of efficiently producing accelerated particle beams. As laser technology has been improving and increasing intensities and energies, it has become clear that the temporal contrast of a laser pulse is a key parameter in defining the conditions of interaction and the involved phenomena. In this paper we present the results that have been obtained in laser ion acceleration experiments from recent past to present days, using the most recent temporal cleaning methods. Different technologies have been adopted to improve the temporal contrast: the obtained effect on the proton acceleration is presented and discussed.

The injection of quasimonoenergetic electron beams into a laser wakefield accelerator is demonstrated experimentally using density gradients at the edges of a plasma channel. In the experiment, two laser pulses are used; the main laser pulse drives a wakefield, while a second countercrossing laser beam produces a plasma whose expansion creates a channel with significant density gradients. Local injection of electrons in the wakefield is triggered by wave breaking in the density ramp. The injection is localized spatially and leads to the generation of collimated and narrow energy spread relativistic electron beams at the 100 MeV level, with charges in the range of 20-100 pC. The stability of this injection process is compared to the stability of the colliding pulse injection process and is found to be inferior for our experimental conditions. On the other hand, it is found that as the electron beam divergence is smaller in the case of gradient injection, the transverse emittance might be better.

With over 70,000 patients treated worldwide, protontherapy has an evolution on their clinical applications and technological developments. The ballistic advantage of the Bragg peak gives the possibility of getting a high conformation of the dose distribution to the target volume. Protontherapy has accumulated a considerable experience in the management of selected rare malignancies such as uveal melanomas and base of the skull chordomas and chondrosarcomas. The growing interest for exploring new and more common conditions, such as prostate, lung, liver, ENT, breast carcinomas, as well as the implementation of large pediatric programs advocated by many experts has been challenged up to now by the limited access to operational proton facilities, and by the relatively slow pace of technical developments in terms of ion production, beam shaping and modelling, on-line verification etc. One challenge today is to deliver dynamic techniques with intensity modulation in clinical facilities as a standard treatment. We concentrate in this paper on the evolution of clinical indications as well as the potentialities of new technological concepts on ion production, such as dielectric walls and laser-plasma interactions. While these concepts could sooner or later translate into prototypes of highly compact equipments that would make easier the implantation of cost-effective hospital-based facilities, the feasibility of their clinical use must still be proved.

The ability of short but intense laser pulses to generate high-energy electrons and ions from gaseous and solid targets has been well known since the early days of the laser fusion program. However, during the past decade there has been an explosion of experimental and theoretical activity in this area of laser-matter interaction, driven by the prospect of realizing table-top plasma accelerators for research, medical and industrial uses, and also relatively small and inexpensive plasma accelerators for high-energy physics at the frontier of particle physics. In this focus issue on laser-and beam-driven plasma accelerators, the latest advances in this field are described.

Low-intensity laser prepulses (<1013 W cm−2, nanosecond duration) are a major issue in experiments on laser-induced generation of protons, often limiting the performances of proton sources produced by high-intensity lasers (≈1019 W cm−2, picosecond or femtosecond duration). Depending on the intensity regime, several effects may be associated with the prepulse, some of which are discussed in this paper: (i) destruction of thin foil targets by the shock generated by the laser prepulse; (ii) creation of preplasma on the target front side affecting laser absorption; (iii) deformation of the target rear side; and (iv) whole displacement of thin foil targets affecting the focusing condition. In particular, we show that under oblique high-intensity irradiation and for low prepulse intensities, the proton beam is directed away from the target normal. Deviation is towards the laser forward direction, with an angle that increases with the level and duration of the ASE pedestal. Also, for a given laser pulse, the beam deviation increases with proton energy. The observations are discussed in terms of target normal sheath acceleration, in combination with a laser-controllable shock wave locally deforming the target surface.

Over the past several years there have been significant advances in research towards generating compact relativistic electron beams using high power short pulse laser produced plasmas (i.e., laser wakefield accelerators). In particular, an explosion of interest was generated in this field following the discovery in 2004 of a method to create such beams with low energy spread using a "plasma bubble" shaped wake. Recent work has increased the energy of these beams to the GeV range by extending the acceleration distance from a few millimetres to several centimeters. From both experimental and theoretical work, a more complete understanding of this "plasma bubble" regime for electron acceleration has also been obtained, enabling a significant improvement in the Output electron beam quality and stability. There is ongoing work to further improve the parameters and stability of these beams with the goal of constructing "table-top" 4th generation sources of coherent x-ray radiation.

The high current electron beam losses have been studied experimentally with 0.7 J, 40 fs, 6 10(19) W cm(-2) laser pulses interacting with Al foils of thicknesses 10-200 mu m. The fast electron beam characteristics and the foil temperature were measured by recording the intensity of the electromagnetic emission from the foils rear side at two different wavelengths in the optical domain, approximate to 407 nm ( the second harmonic of the laser light) and approximate to 500 nm. The experimentally observed fast electron distribution contains two components: one relativistic tail made of very energetic (T(h)(tail) approximate to 10 MeV) and highly collimated (7 degrees +/- 3 degrees) electrons, carrying a small amount of energy (less than 1% of the laser energy), and another, the bulk of the accelerated electrons, containing lower-energy (T(h)(bulk) = 500 +/- 100 keV) more divergent electrons (35 +/- 5 degrees), which transports about 35% of the laser energy. The relativistic component manifests itself by the coherent 2.0 emission due to the modulation of the electron density in the interaction zone. The bulk component induces a strong target heating producing measurable yields of thermal emission from the foils rear side. Our data and modeling demonstrate two mechanisms of fast electron energy deposition: resistive heating due to the neutralizing return current and collisions of fast electrons with plasma electrons. The resistive mechanism is more important at shallow target depths, representing an heating rate of 100 eV per Joule of laser energy at 15 mu m. Beyond that depth, because of the beam divergence, the incident current goes under 10(12) A cm(-2) and the collisional heating becomes more important than the resistive heating. The heating rate is of only 1.5 eV per Joule at 50 mu m depth.

A mistake occurred in the description of Ref. [17] in our Letter. The correct reference is W. Lu, C. Huang, M. Zhou, M. Tzoufras, F. S. Tsung, W. B. Mori, and T. Katsouleas, Phys. Plasmas 13, 056709 (2006)PHPAEN1070-664X10.1063/1.2203364.

The influence of pulse duration on proton acceleration using subpicosecond (30-300 fs), ultraintense (from 3.6x10(18) to 3.6x10(19) W/cm(2)), constant energy (0.14 J) laser pulses is studied using two-dimensional simulations. The entire pulse duration is modeled so that during the rising edge of the pulse a preplasma can naturally expand from the target front and rear surfaces into vacuum, altering respectively laser absorption and electrostatic field generation. In this paper, we study this effect for two target profiles (sharp-edge profile and smooth density gradient at the front side) and we point out the existence of a weak optimum pulse duration for proton acceleration. For the different pulse durations we consider, we first show that the maximum proton energy variations are similar to those of the rear side electrostatic field amplitude. The energy variations, however, are smaller than expected from the field variations, and we explain this effect by characteristic proton acceleration time.

A review of recent simulation and experimental studies of the colliding pulse injection scheme is presented. One dimensional particle in cell simulations show that when the colliding pulses have parallel polarizations, the dominant effects that have to be considered for modeling electron injection in plasma waves are (i) stochastic heating and (ii) wakefield inhibition at the collision. With cross polarized pulses, injection of an electron beam is still possible because stochastic heating still occurs. However, it is found numerically that the injection threshold is higher in this case. The simulations also underline the possibility of tuning the electron beam parameters by modifying the injection laser pulse. Experiments (i) validate these scenarios and show that stable and high quality electron beams are produced when two counterpropagating laser pulses collide in an underdense plasma and (ii) confirm very clearly the existence of a threshold for injection, which is higher with cross polarized pulses than with parallel polarized pulses.

A cold optical injection mechanism for a laser-plasma accelerator is described. It relies on a short, circularly polarized, low-energy laser pulse counterpropagating to and colliding with a circularly polarized main pulse in a low density plasma. Contrary to previously published optical injection schemes, injection is not caused here by electron heating. Instead, the collision between the pulses creates a spatially periodic and time-independent beat force. This force can block the longitudinal electron motion, leading to their entry and injection into the propagating wake. In a specific setup, we compute after acceleration over 0.6 mm, a 60 MeV, 50 pC electron bunch with 0.7 MeV rms energy spread, proving the interest of this scheme to inject electron bunches with a narrow absolute energy spread. Acceleration to 3 GeV with a rms spread smaller than 1% is computed after propagation over 3.8 cm in a plasma channel.

The process of laser beam homogenization in a gas medium placed in front of a thin metallic foil has been studied. Experiments were performed using the Prague Asterix Laser System iodine laser [Jungwirth , Phys. Plasmas 8, 2495 (2001)] working at 0.44 mu m wavelength and irradiance of about 10(15) W/cm(2). Homogenization was detected both by directly analyzing the transmitted laser beam and by studying the shock breakout on the foil rear side. Results show that the gas ionization by the laser pulse induces a strong refraction and produces an effective smoothing of large-scale intensity nonuniformities.

We present experimental and numerical results on the formation of a controlled plasma density gradient in front of a solid target irradiated with a subpicosecond, moderate intensity laser pulse. Interferometry with femtosecond probe is used to map the temporal evolution of the spatial density distribution of the generated plasma. Experimental results are found to be in good agreement with 1D1/2 hydrodynamic simulations. Moreover, these numerical simulations enable us to determine the impact of such a heating beam on the target rear surface and to correlate the plasma gradient that can be produced on the illuminated surface with the position of the shock wave in the bulk.

We present the results of an experimental investigation of the temporal evolution of plasmas produced by high power laser irradiation of various types of target materials (at intensities I(L) = 400 ps). In this case, simulations also show that the effect of radiation transport is negligible. The situation is quite different for gold targets for which, in order to get a fair agreement, radiation transport must be taken into account.

We studied the process of laser beam homogenization in a gas medium placed in front of a thin metallic foil. Experiments were performed using the Prague PALS iodine laser working at 0.44 mu m wavelength and irradiances of about 10(15) W cm(-2). Homogenization was detected both by directly analysing the transmitted laser beam and by studying the shock breakout on the foil rear side. Results show that the gas ionization by the laser pulse induces a strong refraction and produces an effective smoothing of large-scale intensity non-uniformities.

Rapid progress in the development of high-intensity laser systems has extended our ability to study light-matter interactions far into the relativistic domain, in which electrons are driven to velocities close to the speed of light. As well as being of fundamental interest in their own right, these interactions enable the generation of high-energy particle beams that are short, bright and have good spatial quality. Along with steady improvements in the size, cost and repetition rate of high-intensity lasers, the unique characteristics of laser-driven particle beams are expected to be useful for a wide range of contexts, including proton therapy for the treatment of cancers, materials characterization, radiation-driven chemistry, border security through the detection of explosives, narcotics and other dangerous substances, and of course high-energy particle physics. Here, we review progress that has been made towards realizing such possibilities and the principles that underlie them.

We present a protocol to characterize the high energy electron beam emitted in the interaction of an ultraintense laser with matter at intensities higher than 10(19) W cm(-2). The electron energies and angular distributions are determined as well as the total number of electrons produced above a 10 MeV threshold. This protocol is based on measurements with an electron spectrometer and nuclear activation techniques, combined with Monte Carlo simulations based on the GEANT3 code. The method is detailed and exemplified with data obtained with polypropylene and copper thin solid targets at a laser intensity of 2 x 10(19) W cm(-2). Special care is taken of the different sources of uncertainties. In particular, the reproducibility of the laser shots is considered. 

We use laser-plasma interaction and particle-transport codes to investigate ion acceleration when a short, intense laser pulse irradiates a thin solid foil, and to quantify the isotope yield that these ions can induce by nuclear reactions in secondary targets. Optimum acceleration, in terms of peak ion energy and secondary target activation, is obtained for ultra-low (sub-pm) target thickness. 

We have measured the coherent optical transition radiation emitted by an electron beam from laser-plasma interaction. The measurement of the spectrum of the radiation reveals fine structures of the electron beam in the range 400-1000 nm. These structures are reproduced using an electron distribution from a 3D particle-in-cell simulation and are attributed to microbunching of the electron bunch due to its interaction with the laser field. When the radiator is placed closer to the interaction point, spectral oscillations have also been recorded, signature of the interference of the radiation produced by two electron bunches delayed by 74 fs. The second electron bunch duration is shown to be ultrashort to match the intensity level of the radiation. Whereas transition radiation was used at longer wavelengths in order to estimate the electron bunch length, this study focuses on the ultrashort structures of the electron beam.

The physio-pathological roles of sulfide biomolecules in cellular environments involves redox processes and radical reactions that alter or protect the functional properties of enzymatic systems, proteins and nucleic acids repair. We focus on micromolar monitoring of sulfur-centered radical anions produced by direct electron attachment, using sulfide molecules (a thioether and a disulfide biomolecule) and two complementary spectroscopic approaches: low energy radiation femtochemistry (1-8 eV) and high energy radiation femtochemistry (2.5-15 MeV). The early step of a disulfide bond making RS therefore SR- from thiol molecules involves a very-short lived odd-electron bonded intermediate for which an excess electron is transiently localized by a preexisting two sulfide monomers complex. The reactive center of oxidized glutathione (cystamine), a major cytoplasmic disulfide biomolecule, is also used as sensor for the real-time IR investigation of effective reaction radius tau(eff) in homogenous aqueous environments and interfacial water of biomimetic systems. Femtosecond high-energy electrons beams, typically in the 2.5 - 15 MeV range, may conjecture the picosecond observation of primary radical events in nanometric radiation spurs. The real-time investigation of sulfide and disulfide molecules opens exciting opportunities for sensitisation of confined environments (aqueous groove of DNA, protein pockets, sub-cellular systems) to ionizing radiation. Low and high-energy femtoradical probing foreshadow the development of new applications in radiobiology (low dose effect at the nanometric scale) and anticancer radiotherapy (pro-drogue activation).

Laser plasma accelerators produce today ultra short, quasi-monoenergetic and collimated electron beams with potential applications in material science, chemistry and medicine. The laser plasma accelerator used to produce such an electron beam is presented, The design of a laser based accelerator designed to produce more energetic electron beams with a narrow relative energy spread is also proposed here. This compact approach should permit a miniaturization and cost reduction of future accelerators and associated X-Free Electrons Lasers (XFEL).

The experimental demonstration of laser acceleration of ions to multi-MeV energies with short, intense laser pulses has spurred the prospect of using this ion source for medical isotope production. Using numerical models for laser-plasma interaction and ion acceleration, then for ion transport and isotope production, we compute the isotope yields that could be expected from such sources, and their variations with interaction parameters such as target thickness and laser intensity. Using 36 fs, 4x10(20) W/cm(2) pulses at kilohertz repetition rate, more than 100 GBq of F-18 are expected after irradiation for 1 h. 

Fast electron transport in matter is a key issue for assessing the feasibility of fast ignition; however several important points are not clear yet. Therefore we realized an experiment with ultra-intense lasers (≤ 6 1019 W cm−2) studying transport in metallic (Al) and insulating (CH) foil targets. The dynamics of fast electron propagation versus target thickness was investigated by optical self-emission from targets rear side. In Al targets we distinguished two-components in the fast electron population: moderately relativistic electrons and a highly collimated micro-bunched relativistic tail. A large ohmic heating at the rear of the thinner targets was observed due to the background return current. In CH, optical emission is mainly due to the Cherenkov effect and is much larger than in Al. We also observed that in insulators the fast-electron beam undergoes strong filamentation and the number of filaments increases with thickness. This behaviour was attributed to an ionization front instability.

This article gives a detailed description of a single shot electron spectrometer which was used to characterize electron beams produced by laser-plasma interaction. Contrary to conventional electron sources, electron beams from laser-plasma accelerators can produce a broad range of energies. Therefore, diagnosing these electron spectra requires specific attention and experimental development. Here, we provide an absolute calibration of the Lanex Kodak Fine screen on a laser-triggered radio frequency picosecond electron accelerator. The efficiency of scintillating screens irradiated by electron beams has never been investigated so far. This absolute calibration is then compared to charge measurements from an integrating current transformer for quasimonoenergetic electron spectra from laser-plasma interaction. 

We report on some recent experimental results on proton production from ultra-intense laser pulse interaction with thin aluminium and plastic foil targets. These results were obtained at Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquee with the 100TW 'salle jaune' laser system, delivering 35 fs laser pulses at 0.8 mu m, reaching a maximum intensity on target of a few 10(19) W/cm(2).In such extreme interaction conditions, an intense and collimated relativistic electron current is injected from the plasma created on the laser focal spot into the cold interior of the target. Its transport through dense matter, ruled by both collisions and self-induced (electro-magnetic) field effects, is the driving mechanism for proton acceleration from the rear side of thin foils: when reaching and leaving the foil rear-side, the fast electrons create a large charge separation and a huge electrostatic field with a maximum value of few TV/m, capable of accelerating protons.A parametric study as a function of the laser driver and target parameters indicates an optimal value for target thickness, which strongly depends on the laser prepulse duration. In our experiments, we did irradiate targets of various materials (CH, Al, Au) changing the prepulse duration by using fast Pockels cells in the laser chain. CR-39 nuclear track detectors with Al filters of different thickness and a Thomson parabola were used to detect proton generation. The best results were obtained for 2 mu m Al targets, leading to the generation of proton energies with energies up to 12 MeV.

The design of a two-stage compact GeV electron accelerator is presented. The accelerator is as follows: (1) an ultra-short electron bunch is produced in a state-of-the-art laser-plasma accelerator (injector stage), (2) it is injected into an accelerating stage consisting of a centimeter length low density plasma interacting with a petawatt laser pulse. The parameters for the injector are taken from recent experimental results showing that high quality, ultra-short, and quasi-monoenergetic electron beams are now being produced in laser-plasma accelerators. Simulations performed with WAKE show that this method can lead to the production of high quality, monoenergetic, and sub-50 fs electron bunches at the GeV energy level.

We present here results obtained in an experiment carried out using the CPA beam of the "Salle Jaune" laser system at Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquee (LOA). The generation of high energy electrons and protons escaping from the plasma has been investigated in the interaction of a 2 J, 30 fs laser with CH or metallic foils. The energy and angular distributions of the supra-thermal electrons produced with different targets are characterized by using both an electron spectrometer and bremsstrahlung induced (gamma,n) reactions. We measured simultaneously the number of energetic protons produced using (p,n) reactions. A correlation between the electrons and the protons production is observed together with a dependence of the number of supra-thermal electrons on the atomic number of the target element.

The transport of an intense electron-beam produced by Ultra High Intensity laser pulses through metals and insulators has been studied by imaging with high resolution the optical emission (Optical Transition Radiation, Thermal and Cherenkov emission) due to electron transit through the targets. It is observed that if the target is an insulator the fast electron beam undergoes strong filamentation and the filaments increase in number with plastic thickness, with a characteristic growth rate and transversal scale in good agreement with analytical predictions based on electric field instabilities in the beam ionization front.

An experimental study of the interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with underdense plasmas in the relativistic regime is presented. A parameter regime of particular interest was found: the so-called bubble regime. In this regime, the laser pulse is focused to relativistic intensities and its pulse duration is comparable to or shorter than the plasma period. A wealth of physical phenomena occurs for such physical parameters. These phenomena have multiple signatures which have been investigated experimentally: (i) the generation of a high quality electron beam (high energy, very collimated, quasimonoenergetic energy distribution); (ii) the laser pulse temporal shortening in nonlinear plasma waves. In addition, experimental results suggest that the electron beam produced in this way has temporal structures shorter than 50fs.

A "table-top" high power laser hits been used to generate beams of accelerated electrons LIP to energy of 20 MeV from interactions With underdense plasmas. The energy spectrum of these beams was measured using a magnetic spectrometer and proof-of-principle experiments were performed to evaluate the suitability of these beams for electron radiography applications.

The most recent experimental results obtained with laser-plasma accelerators are applied to radiotherapy simulations. The narrow electron beam, produced during the interaction of the laser with the gas jet, has a high charge (0.5 nC) and is quasimonoenergetic (170 +/- 20 MeV). The dose deposition is calculated in a water phantom placed at different distances from the diverging electron source. We show that, using magnetic fields to refocus the electron beam inside the water phantom, the transverse penumbra is improved. This electron beam is well suited for delivering a high dose peaked on the propagation axis, a sharp and narrow tranverse penumbra combined with a deep penetration. 

Experiments to examine the generation of relativistic plasma waves via a high-intensity short-pulse beat-wave scheme are described in detail. The pulse stretcher of the Vulcan chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) laser system was modified to produce two frequency, 3 ps pulses focusable to intensities up to 10(18) W cm(-2). Short high-intensity pulses were used to avoid limitations to the plasma-wave amplitude due to the modulational instability. Two experiments were undertaken, at 3 and 10 TW, with the generation of plasma waves diagnosed by measuring the sidebands produced in the spectrum of the forward scattered beam. A resonance in the sideband signal was observed for an initial plasma density higher than expected for the given beat frequency. This resonance shift can be attributed to transverse ponderomotive expulsion of plasma electrons from the laser focal region. A monotonically increasing background was also observed, which was due to nonresonant cross-phase modulation.

This paper reports the results of some recent experiments performed at the LULI laboratory (Palaiseau, France) concerning the propagation of large relativistic electron currents in a gas jet. We present our experimental results according to the type of diagnostics used in the experiments: (1) time resolved optical shadowgraphy and (2) proton imaging. Proton radiography images did show the presence of very strong fields in the gas probably produced by charge separation. In turn, these imply a slowing down of the fast electron cloud as it penetrates in the gas. Indeed, shadowgraphy images show a strong inhibition of propagation and a strong reduction in time of the velocity of the electron cloud from the initial value, which is of the order of a fraction of c.

The recent and continuous development of powerful laser systems has permitted the emergence of new approaches for generating energetic electron beams. By focusing light pulses containing a few joules of energy in a few tens of femtoseconds onto gas jets, extremely large electric fields can be generated, reaching the terravolts per metre level. Such fields are 10 000 times greater than those produced in the radio-frequency cavities of conventional accelerators. As a result, the length over which electrons extracted from the target can be accelerated to hundreds of MeV is reduced to a few millimetres. The reduction of the size and the cost of laser-plasma accelerators is a promising consequence, but these electron beams also reveal original properties, which make them a wonderful tool for science. By adjusting the interaction parameters, the electron energy distribution can be tuned from a maxwellian-like distribution to a quasi-monoenergetic one. The new properties of these laser-based particle beams are well suited to many applications in different fields, including medicine (radiotherapy), chemistry (ultrafast radiolysis), material science (non-destructive material inspection using radiography) and, of course, for accelerator physics.

The interaction of short and intense laser pulses with plasmas or solids is a very efficient source of high-energy ions. This paper reports the detailed study, with particle-in-cell simulations, of the interaction of such a laser pulse with thin, dense targets, and the resulting proton acceleration. Depending on the laser intensity and pulse duration, the most energetic protons are found to come from the front, the core, or the back of the target. The main accelerating mechanisms discussed in this paper are plasma expansion acceleration, where proton acceleration is driven by the hot electron population, and shock acceleration, originating from the laser ponderomotive potential imposed at the front target surface. Three main regimes of proton acceleration are defined and the parameters for which each regime is dominant are obtained. For irradiances close to 10(20) W/cm(2), the highest proton energies are obtained from thin foils efficiently heated by relativistic transparency. At larger intensities, a complex interplay between collisionless shock acceleration and plasma expansion acceleration is evidenced.

Experimental investigations of the late-time ion structures formed in the wake of an ultrashort, intense laser pulse propagating in a tenuous plasma have been performed using the proton imaging technique. The pattern found in the wake of the laser pulse shows unexpectedly regular modulations inside a long, finite width channel. On the basis of extensive particle in cell simulations of the plasma evolution in the wake of the pulse, we interpret this pattern as due to ion modulations developed during a two-stream instability excited by the return electric current generated by the wakefield.

A method for obtaining quantitative information about electric field and charge distributions from proton imaging measurements of laser-induced plasmas is presented. A parameterised charge distribution is used as target plasma. The deflection of a proton beam by the electric field of such a plasma is simulated numerically as well as the resulting proton density, which will be obtained on a screen behind the plasma according to the proton imaging technique. The parameters of the specific charge distributions are delivered by a combination of linear regression and nonlinear fitting of the calculated proton density distribution to the measured optical density of a radiochromic film screen changed by proton exposure. It is shown that superpositions of spherical Gaussian charge distributions as target plasma are sufficient to simulate various structures in proton imaging measurements, which makes this method very flexible.

We study the propagation of fast electrons in a gas at different densities. A large relativistic electron current is produced by focusing a short-pulse ultrahigh-intensity laser on a metallic target. It then propagates in a gas jet placed behind the foil. Shadowgraphy in the gas shows an electron cloud moving at sub-relativistic average velocities. The experiment shows (i) the essential role of the density of background material for allowing propagation of fast electrons, (ii) the importance of the ionization phase which produces free electrons available for the return current, and (iii) the effect of electrostatic fields on fast-electron propagation.

It is known that relativistic laser plasma interactions can already today induce accelerating fields beyond some TV/m, which are indeed capable to efficiently accelerate plasma background electrons as well as protons. An introduction to the current state of the art will be given and possible applications of these optically induced charged particle sources will be discussed.

Particle accelerators are used in a wide variety of fields, ranging from medicine and biology to high-energy physics. The accelerating fields in conventional accelerators are limited to a few tens of MeV m
-1
, owing to material breakdown at the walls of the structure. Thus, the production of energetic particle beams currently requires large-scale accelerators and expensive infrastructures. Laser-plasma accelerators have been proposed as a next generation of compact accelerators because of the huge electric fields they can sustain (>100 GeV m
-1
). However, it has been difficult to use them efficiently for applications because they have produced poor-quality particle beams with large energy spreads, owing to a randomization of electrons in phase space. Here we demonstrate that this randomization can be suppressed and that the quality of the electron beams can be dramatically enhanced. Within a length of 3 mm, the laser drives a plasma bubble that traps and accelerates plasma electrons. The resulting electron beam is extremely collimated and quasi-monoenergetic, with a high charge of 0.5 nC at 170 MeV.

We present a supercritical radiative shock experiment performed with the LULI nanosecond laser facility. Using targets filled with xenon gas at low pressure, the propagation of a strong shock with a radiative precursor is evidenced. The main measured shock quantities (electronic density and propagation velocity) are shown to be in good agreement with theory and numerical simulations.

Protontherapy is a well-established approach to treat cancer due to the favorable ballistic properties of proton beams. Nevertheless, this treatment is today only possible with large scale accelerator facilities which are very difficult to install at existing hospitals. In this article we report on a new approach for proton acceleration up to energies within the therapeutic window between 60 and 200 MeV by using modern, high intensity and compact laser systems. By focusing such laser beams onto thin foils we obtained on target intensities of which is sufficient to produce a well-collimated proton beam with an energy of up to 10 MeV. These results are in agreement with numerical simulations and indicate that proton energies within the therapeutic window should be obtained in the very near future using such economical and very compact laser systems. Hence, this approach could revolutionize cancer treatment by bringing the ?lab to the hospital?rather than the hospital to the lab.?

We have generated x-ray radiation from the nonlinear Thomson scattering of a 30 fs/1.5 J laser beam on plasma electrons. A collimated x-ray radiation with a broad continuous spectrum peaked at 0.15 keV with a significant tail up to 2 keV has been observed. These characteristics are found to depend strongly on the laser strength parameter a0. This radiative process is dominant for a0 greater than unity at which point the relativistic scattering of the laser light originates from MeV energy electrons inside the plasma.

X-ray spectra of highly-ionized xenon and krypton measured in a laser-irradiated gas jet are presented with a main purpose of line identification. The spectral range of 0.5 to 1 nm was covered using two flat Bragg crystal spectrographs. The very rich spectra of xenon cover the transitions 3p-nd and 3d-nf, with n = 5 to 10, of Xe26+ to Xe 30+ (Ni-like to Cr-like). Transitions 2p-nd and 2s-np with n = 3.4 of Kr24+ to Kr28+ (Mg-like to O-like) have also been recorded, in a range covering some unidentified lines. Ab initio detailed calculations performed with the RELAC code have permitted to identify lines of Xe and Kr, including transitions which were measured but not identified until now. Ionic fractions were deduced by adjusting the experimental spectra with a least-squares fit based on the RELAC data.

Nous avons étudié la production de particules énergétiques par l'interaction d'un laser ultra-bref et intense avec un plasma issu de l'ionisation laser d'un jet de gaz. A haute densité électronique ( ne > 1019 cm -3) un faisceau d'électrons relativistes est produit par sillage laser auto-modulé. A basse densité plasma (ne > 1019 cm -3) un faisceau de rayons X est produit par émission Larmor des électrons du plasma oscillants dans te champ laser. Nous avons étudié les distributions en énergies et en angles de ces deux de faisceaux de particules. Les distributions angulaires sont gaussiennes et orientées suivant l'axe laser. La distribution en énergie du faisceau d'X est large, piquée autour de 0.15 keV, et s'étend jusqu'à 2 keV. Celle du faisceau d'électrons est maxwellienne de température Te ≈ 10 eV. Ces résultats ont été obtenus avec un laser 10 Hz, ouvrant la porte à de nombreuses applications.

Spatiotemporal smoothing of large-scale laser intensity fluctuations is observed for a laser beam focused into underdense helium plasmas. This smoothing is found to be severely enhanced when focusing the laser beam into a helium gas jet. In contrast to other experiments with preformed plasmas, the average and the peak laser intensities are well below the threshold for ponderomotive self-focusing. The coherence characteristics of the transmitted light are measured for various electron densities, and the smoothing effect is explained by multiple scattering of laser light on self-induced density perturbations.

The interaction of a 600 ps laser pulse at 0.53 μm wavelength with helium gas jet at an electron density of 8×1019 cm-3 was analyzed. Time resolved Thomson scattering was used to define the plasma parameters for density and temperature. Thomson scattering diagnostics were used to get quantitative values of the local and instantaneous reflectivity.

A short-pulse laser beat wave scheme for advanced particle accelerator applications is examined. A short, intense (3-ps, >1018-W cm-2) two-frequency laser pulse is produced by use of a modified chirped-pulse amplification scheme and is shown to produce relativistic plasma waves during interactions with low-density plasmas. The generation of plasma waves was observed by measurement of forward Raman scattering. Resonance was found to occur at an electron density many times that expected, owing to ponderomotive displacement of plasma within the focal region.

Plasmas are an attractive medium for the next generation of particle accelerators because they can support electric fields greater than several hundred gigavolts per meter. These accelerating fields are generated by relativistic plasma waves - space-charge oscillations - that can be excited when a high-intensity laser propagates through a plasma. Large currents of background electrons can then be trapped and subsequently accelerated by these relativistic waves. In the forced laser wake field regime, where the laser pulse length is of the order of the plasma wavelength, we show that a gain in maximum electron energy of up to 200 megaelectronvolts can be achieved, along with an improvement in the quality of the ultrashort electron beam.

Very collimated bunches of high energy electrons have been produced by focusing super-intense femtosecond laser pulses in submillimeter under-dense plasmas. The density of the plasma, preformed with the laser exploding-foil technique, was mapped using Nomarski interferometry. The electron beam was fully characterized: up to 109 electrons per shot were accelerated, most of which in a beam of aperture below 10−3 sterad, with energies up to 40 MeV. These measurements, which are well modeled by three-dimensional numerical simulations, validate a reliable method to generate ultrashort and ultracollimated electron bunches.

Plasmas irradiated by an intense laser beam have recently been demonstrated to be sources for particles (electrons, ions, positrons). During this interaction, it has been found that these charged particles can be efficiently accelerated. An overview of these results as well as some perspectives are presented here.

An experimental investigation of the propagation of a randomized 600-ps laser pulse in a helium gas jet was done by developing a model. The model accounted for collisional ionization through inverse bremsstrahlung. The density and temperature evolution were resolved and their maps were retrieved through time resolved interferometry and Thomson scattering. An ionizatin front was observed. Nonhomogenous heating of the plasma took place due to beam diffraction. The results exhibited the diffraction of laser while propagation, which lead to decrease in laser intensity.

An experiment has been performed with one of the six nanosecond beams of the Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses laser facility in order to create long scale uniform plasmas over a wide range of electron density (1 × 1019-1.6X 10×20cm-3) and electron temperature (0.5-1.3 keV). Electron density and temperature evolution have been measured using Thomson scattering. Numerical simulations obtained by using a simple model are presented. Scaling law related electron density and electron temperature have been established in agreement with experimental data.

Measurements of Raman instabilities with subpicosecond time resolution in the referential frame of the laser pulse were carried out. It was found that Raman 30° side scattering and forward scattering occur at the back of the pulse. A simple model was developed that allows to calculate RFS spectra with a good accuracy.

Collective Thomson scattering imaging has been used to study the propagation and self-focusing processes taking place during the interaction of a nanosecond laser beam with a preionized gas-jet plasma. The experiments have been carried out with a laser beam power PL exceeding greatly the critical power for ponderomotive self-focusing Pc. It has been found that the position of the ion acoustic waves excited by stimulated Brillouin scattering depends only weakly on the initial focal position of the interaction laser beam. These results, together with theoretical and numerical modeling, demonstrate that in such a regime (PL/Pc ≫ 1) self-focusing is the dominant mechanism governing the localization of the interaction processes.

High-intensity laser-plasma interaction experiments were performed using high-power laser pulses (greater than 8 TW) at a wavelength of 527 nm. These pulses were focused to intensity greater than 1018 W/cm2 into underdense helium plasma at a density of ne < 5 x 1019 cm~3. Systematic examination of the forward Raman scattering instability was performed by measuring the spectrum of the forward scattered light. It was found that the three-wave instability occurs first, which then proceeds to a nonlinear regime involving four-wave processes. Measurements of the accelerated electron spectrum suggest that higher phase velocity plasma waves are generated than when using lower frequency light. l

The interaction of an intense short pulse laser (>5 × 10 18 Wcm -2) with underdense plasma was extensively studied. The beam is found to be highly susceptible to the forward Raman scattering instability. At sufficiently high growth rates, this can lead to wavebreaking with the resultant production of a high flux of accelerated electrons (> 10 11 for E > 2 MeV). Some electrons are found to be accelerated well above the dephasing energy, up to 94 MeV. Self-scattered images intimate the presence of high-intensity channels that extend more than 3.5 mm or 12 Rayleigh lengths. These filaments do not follow the axis of laser propagation, but are seen to be emitted within an f4 cone centered around this axis. Spectra of the self-scattered light show that the main contribution of the scattering is not from light captured within these filaments. But there is evidence for self-phase modulation from effects such as ionization and relativistic self-focusing. However, no clear correlation is observed between channel length and the number of energies of accelerated electrons. Evidence for high intensities within the channels is given by small-angle Thomson scattering of the plasma wave generated therein. With this method, the intensity is found to be of the order of 10 18 Wcm -2 greater than 12 Rayleigh lengths from focus.

The neutral density profile of cylindrical gas jets is measured with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer under a wide range of backing pressures. The sensitivity of this diagnostic together with the mathematical treatment of the data allows us to measure neutral densities for argon gas as low as 1017 cm-3 for a 5 mm diam gas jet.

We report on a detailed study of channel formation in the interaction of a nanosecond laser pulse with a He gas jet. A complete set of diagnostics is used in order to characterize the plasma precisely. The evolution of the plasma radius and of the electron density and temperature are measured by Thomson scattering, Schlieren imaging, and Mach-Zehnder interferometry. In gas jets, one observes the formation of a channel with a deep density depletion on axis. Because of ionization-induced defocusing which increases the size of the focal spot and decreases the maximum laser intensity, no channel is observed in the case of a gas-filled chamber. The results obtained in various gas-jet and laser conditions show that the channel radius, as well as the density along the propagation axis, can be adjusted by changing the laser energy and gas-jet pressure. This is a crucial issue when one wants to adapt the channel parameters in order to guide a subsequent high-intensity laser pulse. The experimental results and their comparison with one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations show that the main mechanism for channel formation is the hydrodynamic evolution behind a supersonic electron heat wave propagating radially in the plasma. It is also shown from 2D simulations that a fraction of the long pulse can be self-guided in the channel it creates. The preliminary results and analyses on this subject have been published before [V. Malka et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 2979 (1997)].

An experiment has been performed with the LULI Multi-TeraWatt Laser. The acceleration of electrons injected in a plasma wave generated by the laser wakefield mechanism has been observed with a maximum energy gain of 1.5 MeV. It has been shown that the electrons deflected during the interaction, could scatter on the walls of the experimental chamber, and fake a high-energy signal. A special effort has been given in the electron detection to separate the accelerated electrons signal from the background noise. The experimental results agree with theoretical predictions and numerical simulations when 3D effects on the electron beam are taken into account.

The acceleration of electrons injected in a plasma wave generated by the laser wakefield mechanism has been observed. A maximum energy gain of 1.6 MeV has been measured and the maximum longitudinal electric field is estimated to 1.5 GV/m. The experimental data agree with theoretical predictions when 3D effects are taken into account. The duration of the plasma wave inferred from the number of accelerated electrons is of the order of 1 ps.

A laser wakefield electron acceleration experiment has been set-up at Ecole Polytechnique. An electron beam with 3 MeV total energy is injected in a plasma wave generated by laser wakefield using the new LULI CPA laser (400 fs [FWHM], I < 1017 W/cm2). The first results show an effective acceleration of the order of 1 MeV, with a maximum when the electron density is close to the optimum value for which the laser pulse length is about half the plasma wavelength.