Laser beam quality

Coupling (piping)

Metallurgy

Materials science

Laser beams

Plasma channel

Detector

Cathode ray

Physics

Electron

Plasma acceleration

Optics

Beam (structure)

Atomic physics

Pulse (music)

Plasma

Laser

Nuclear physics

Physical Review Letters

Multistage coupling of laser-wakefield accelerators is essential to overcome laser energy depletion for high-energy applications such as TeV level electron-positron colliders. Current staging schemes feed subsequent laser pulses into stages using plasma mirrors, while controlling electron beam focusing with plasma lenses. Here a more compact and efficient scheme is proposed to realize simultaneous coupling of the electron beam and the laser pulse into a second stage. A curved channel with transition segment is used to guide a fresh laser pulse into a subsequent straight channel, while allowing the electrons to propagate in a straight channel. This scheme benefits from a shorter coupling distance and continuous guiding of the electrons in plasma, while suppressing transverse beam dispersion. With moderate laser parameters, particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate that the electron beam from a previous stage can be efficiently injected into a subsequent stage for further acceleration, while maintaining high capture efficiency, stability, and beam quality.

Multistage Coupling of Laser-Wakefield Accelerators with Curved Plasma Channels