On the development of a low peak-power, high repetition-rate laser plasma accelerator at IPEN

Abstract

In this work, the current status on the development of a laser plasma accelerator at the Nuclear and Energy Research Institute (Instituto de Pesquisas Nucleares e Energéticas, IPEN/CNEN), in São Paulo, Brazil, is presented. Short pulses to be produced by an under-development near-TW, kHz laser system will be used to ionize a gas jet, with a density profile designed to optimize the self-injection of plasma electrons. The same laser pulse will also drive a plasma wakefield, which will allow for electron acceleration in the self-modulated regime. The current milestone is to develop the experimental setup, including electron beam and plasma diagnostics, required to produce electron bunches with energies of a few MeV. Once this has been achieved, the next milestone is to produce beams with energies higher than 50 MeV. Besides kickstarting the laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) technology in Brazil, this project aims to pave the way for conducting research on the production of radioisotopes by photonuclear reactions, triggered by LWFA accelerated beams.