Abstract
We use a one-shot measurement technique to study effects of laser prepulses on the electron laser wakefield acceleration driven by relativistically intense laser pulses (, , ) in dense helium gas jets. A quasimonoenergetic electron bunch with an energy peak [ (FWHM)] and with a narrow-cone angle of ejection is detected at a plasma density of . A strong correlation between the generation of monoenergetic electrons and optical guiding of the pulse in a thin channel produced by picosecond laser prepulses is observed. This generation mechanism is well corroborated by two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.
3 More- Received 6 October 2005
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.73.036407
©2006 American Physical Society