arXiv subjects

A. Buck

Publications and source records attributed to A. Buck.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

Physics of nanocoulomb-class electron beams in laser-plasma wakefields

Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) and its particle-driven counterpart, plasma wakefield acceleration (PWFA), are commonly treated as separate, though related branches of high-gradient plasma-based acceleration. However, novel proposed schemes are increasingly residing at the interface of both concepts where the understanding of their interplay becomes crucial. Here, we report on experiments covering a wide range of parameters by using nanocoulomb-class quasi-monoenergetic electron beams from LWFA with a 100-TW-class laser. Based on a controlled electron injection, these beams reach record-level performance in terms of laser-to-beam energy transfer efficiency (up to 10%), spectral charge density (regularly exceeding 10 pC/MeV) and divergence (1 mrad full width at half maximum divergence). The impact of charge fluctuations on the energy spectra of electron bunches is assessed for different laser parameters, including a few-cycle laser, followed by a presentation of results on beam loading in LWFA with two electron bunches. This scenario is particularly promising to provide high-quality electron beams by using one of the bunches to either tailor the laser wakefield via beam loading or to drive its own, beam-dominated wakefield. We present experimental evidence for the latter, showing a varying acceleration of a low-energy witness beam with respect to the charge of a high-energy drive beam in a spatially separate gas target. With the increasing availability of petawatt-class lasers the access to this new regime of laser-plasma wakefield acceleration will be further facilitated, thus providing new paths towards low-emittance beam generation for future plasma-based colliders or light sources.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2018

Dual-energy electron beams from a compact laser-driven accelerator

Ultrafast pump-probe experiments open the possibility to track fundamental material behaviour like changes in its electronic configuration in real time. To date, most of these experiments are performed using an electron or a high-energy photon beam, which is synchronized to an infrared laser pulse. Entirely new opportunities can be explored if not only a single, but multiple synchronized, ultra-short, high-energy beams are used. However, this requires advanced radiation sources that are capable of producing dual-energy electron beams, for example. Here, we demonstrate simultaneous generation of twin-electron beams from a single compact laser wakefield accelerator. The energy of each beam can be individually adjusted over a wide range and our analysis shows that the bunch lengths and their delay inherently amount to femtoseconds. Our proof-of-concept results demonstrate an elegant way to perform multi-beam experiments in future on a laboratory scale.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2015

Energy limitation of laser-plasma electron accelerators

We report on systematic and high-precision measurements of dephasing, an effect that fundamentally limits the performance of laser wakefield accelerators. Utilizing shock-front injection, a technique providing stable, tunable and high-quality electron bunches, acceleration and deceleration of few-MeV quasi-monoenergetic beams were measured with sub-5-fs and 8-fs laser pulses. Typical density dependent electron energy evolution with 65-300 micrometers dephasing length and 6-20 MeV peak energy was observed and is well described with a simple model.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2014

Tunable, all-optical quasi-monochromatic Thomson X-ray source

Brilliant X-ray sources are of great interest for many research fields from biology via medicine to material research. The quest for a cost-effective, brilliant source with unprecedented temporal resolution has led to the recent realization of various high-intensity-laser-driven X-ray beam sources. Here we demonstrate the first all-laser-driven, energy-tunable and quasi-monochromatic X-ray source based on Thomson backscattering. This is a decisive step beyond previous results, where the emitted radiation exhibited an uncontrolled broad energy distribution. In the experiment, one part of the laser beam was used to drive a few-fs bunch of quasi-monoenergetic electrons from a Laser-Wakefield Accelerator (LWFA), while the remainder was scattered off the bunch in a near-counter-propagating geometry. When the electron energy was tuned from 10-50 MeV, narrow-bandwidth X-ray spectra peaking at 5-35keV were directly measured, limited in photon energy by the sensitivity curve of our X-ray detector. Due to the ultrashort LWFA electron bunches, these beams exhibit few-fs pulse duration.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2006

Quantitative modeling of laser speckle imaging

We have analyzed the image formation and dynamic properties in laser speckle imaging (LSI) both experimentally and with Monte-Carlo simulation. We show for the case of a liquid inclusion that the spatial resolution and the signal itself are both significantly affected by scattering from the turbid environment. Multiple scattering leads to blurring of the dynamic inhomogeneity as detected by LSI. The presence of a non-fluctuating component of scattered light results in the significant increase in the measured image contrast and complicates the estimation of the relaxation time. We present a refined processing scheme that allows a correct estimation of the relaxation time from LSI data.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv1995

Octet and Decuplet Baryons in the Hadronized Nambu--Jona-Lasinio Model with Proper Spin Projection

Octet and Decuplet baryons are described within the hadronized NJL model as diquark--quark states, which are bound by quark exchange. Including scalar and axial--vector diquark correlations, we project the previously obtained relativistic Faddeev equation in a Poincaré invariant fashion onto good spin, using a static approximation to the exchanged quark. The resulting equations for the spin 1/2 octet and the spin 3/2 decuplet are solved numerically.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1993

Diquark electromagnetic form factors in a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model

Electromagnetic properties of diquarks are investigated in the framework of a color-octet Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model, which describes baryons as bound states of diquarks and quarks. We calculate the electromagnetic form factors of scalar and axial vector diquark bound states using the gauge--invariant proper--time regularization. The nucleon charge radii and magnetic moments are estimated in a simple additive diquark--quark model. This picture reproduces the qualitative features such as the negative charge radius of the neutron. Within this model axial vector diquarks are seen to be important.

hep-ph↗