Abstract

Plasma based particle accelerators can sustain much higher electric fields than conventional accelerators and therefore offer a route to more compact ‘laboratory sized’ devices. Recent laser plasma driven electron acceleration experiments have produced exciting results using ps pulses[1] to produce accelerating fields of GVcm^-1. The acceleration mechanism (wake-field) relies on the process of Raman scattering from a plasma to produce a modulation envelope which travels at close to the speed of light transferring energy to the electrons via an electron plasma wave.

© 1998 IEEE