The first demonstrations of fully optical multi-GeV laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) have been enabled by the advent of low density (~$10^{17}$ $cm^{-3}$), meter-scale plasma waveguides generated in supersonic gas jets [1-7]. In this talk, I will present results from our recent LWFA experiments using plasma waveguides up to 30 cm in length, which have produced sub-milliradian divergence electron bunches with nC-level charge in the 1-10 GeV range [6,7]. I will also discuss our extensive simulation efforts, which are motivated by physics understanding and optimization of accelerator performance. These efforts include models of meter-scale hydrodynamic waveguide formation and their experimental benchmarking [8], and new, important regimes of LWFA drive pulse propagation [5] that strongly affect the laser wakefield acceleration dynamics. Finally, I will discuss the use of consistent, high charge multi-GeV electron bunches to generate muons in high-Z materials.
Funding Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the U.S. DoE (DE-SC0015516, LaserNetUS DE-SC0019076/FWP#SCW1668, and DE-SC0011375), NSF (PHY2010511), DARPA’s Muons for Science and Security Program (MuS2). Simulations used DoD HPC support provided through ONR (N00014-20-1-2233). E.R. is supported by NSF GRFP (DGE 1840340). Portions of work prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.
[1] Feder et al., Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 043173(2020).
[2] Shrock et al., Phys. Plasmas 29, 073101(2022).
[3] Miao et al., Phys. Rev. X. 12, 031038(2022).
[4] Miao et al., Physics Today 76 (8), 54-55(2023).
[5] Shrock et al., Under review, arXiv:2309.09930(2023).
[6] Shrock et al., In preparation(2024).
[7] Rockafellow et al., In preparation(2024).
[8] Miao et al., Under review, arXiv:2404.13632(2024)