arXiv subjects

Dino A. Jaroszynski

Publications and source records attributed to Dino A. Jaroszynski.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Narrowband THz Emission from a Plasma Oscillator Imbedded in a Plasma Density Gradient

A novel method is presented for generating radiation using the beat wave associated with a bi-frequency laser pulse, to excite plasma oscillations in a plasma slab with a density gradient. By resonantly exciting a plasma wave, it can be localised and transformed into a plasma oscillator that produces a beam of radially polarised terahertz radiation. Particle-in-cell simulations and analytic theory are used to demonstrate its main characteristics, which includes narrow bandwidth. The radiator should have useful applications such as terahertz-band particle accelerators and pump-probe experiments.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

High-charge 10 GeV electron acceleration in a 10 cm nanoparticle-assisted hybrid wakefield accelerator

In an electron wakefield accelerator, an intense laser pulse or charged particle beam excites plasma waves. Under proper conditions, electrons from the background plasma are trapped in the plasma wave and accelerated to ultra-relativistic velocities. We present recent results from a proof-of-principle wakefield acceleration experiment that reveal a unique synergy between a laser-driven and particle-driven accelerator: a high-charge laser-wakefield accelerated electron bunch can drive its own wakefield while simultaneously drawing energy from the laser pulse via direct laser acceleration. This process continues to accelerate electrons beyond the usual decelerating phase of the wakefield, thus reaching much higher energies. We find that the 10-centimeter-long nanoparticle-assisted wakefield accelerator can generate 340 pC, 10.4+-0.6 GeV electron bunches with 3.4 GeV RMS convolved energy spread and 0.9 mrad RMS divergence. It can also produce bunches with lower energy, a few percent energy spread, and a higher charge. This synergistic mechanism and the simplicity of the experimental setup represent a step closer to compact tabletop particle accelerators suitable for applications requiring high charge at high energies, such as free electron lasers or radiation sources producing muon beams.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2022

Laser pulse compression by a density gradient plasma for exawatt to zettawatt lasers

We propose a new method for laser pulse compression that uses the spatially varying dispersion of a plasma plume with a density gradient. This novel scheme can be used to compress ultrahigh power lasers. A long, negatively frequency-chirped, laser pulse reflects off the plasma ramp of an over-dense plasma. As the density increases longitudinally the high frequency photons at the leading part of the laser pulse propagates more deeply than low frequency photons, the pulse is compressed in a similar way to compression off a chirped mirror. Proof-of-principle simulations, using a one-dimensional (1-D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation code demonstrates the compression of 2.35 ps laser pulse to 10.3 fs, with a compression ratio of 225. As plasmas is robust and resistant to high intensities, unlike gratings in a chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) technique [1], the method could be used as a compressor to reach exawatt or zettawatt peak power lasers.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2021

Self-force on a charged particle in an external scalar field

A charged particle subject to strong external forces will accelerate, and so radiate energy, inducing a self-force. This phenomenon remains contentious, but advances in laser technology mean we will soon encounter regimes where a more complete understanding is essential. The terms "self-force" and "radiation reaction" are often used synonymously, but reflect different aspects of the recoil force. For a particle accelerating in an electromagnetic field, radiation reaction is usually the dominant self-force, but in a scalar field this is not the case, and the total effect of the self-force can be anti-frictional. Aspects of this self-force can be recast in terms of spacetime geometry, and this interpretation illuminates the long-standing enigma of a particle radiating while experiencing no self-force.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2021

Temporal boundaries in electromagnetic materials

Temporally modulated optical media are important in both abstract and applied applications, such as spacetime transformation optics, relativistic laser-plasma interactions, and dynamic metamaterials. Here we investigate the behaviour of temporal boundaries, and show that traditional approaches that assume constant dielectric properties, with loss incorporated as an imaginary part, necessarily lead to unphysical solutions. Further, although physically reasonable predictions can be recovered with a narrowband approximation, we show that appropriate models should use materials with a temporal response and dispersive behaviour.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Radiation reaction and the acceleration-dependent mass increase of a charged sphere undergoing uniform acceleration

Photon emission from a uniformly accelerated charge is among the most mysterious physical phenomena. Theories based on the Lorentz-Abraham-Dirac equation mostly conclude that a uniformly accelerated point charge cannot feel radiation reaction. Such a conclusion suggests that the origin of the photon energy is unclear. In this paper, we determine the self-force of a uniformly accelerated charged sphere using the Lorentz force equation, with an assumption that the sphere is Lorentz-contracted during the acceleration. For large acceleration, the calculated self-force converges to the radiation reaction (given by the Larmor formula) via a new factor $γ_{a}$, which describes an acceleration-dependent increase in the effective mass. This increased mass makes it harder to accelerate the particle (compared to a point-charge), which means more energy should be provided to the particle in order to get the expected acceleration. This extra energy can be interpreted as the origin of the photon energy.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2019

Plasma-photonic spatiotemporal synchronization of relativistic electron and laser beams

Modern particle accelerators and their applications increasingly rely on precisely coordinated interactions of intense charged particle and laser beams. Femtosecond-scale synchronization alongside micrometre-scale spatial precision are essential e.g. for pump-probe experiments, seeding and diagnostics of advanced light sources and for plasma-based accelerators. State-of-the-art temporal or spatial diagnostics typically operate with low-intensity beams to avoid material damage at high intensity. As such, we present a plasma-based approach, which allows measurement of both temporal and spatial overlap of high-intensity beams directly at their interaction point. It exploits amplification of plasma afterglow arising from the passage of an electron beam through a laser-generated plasma filament. The corresponding photon yield carries the spatiotemporal signature of the femtosecond-scale dynamics, yet can be observed as a visible light signal on microsecond-millimetre scales.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

Cherenkov radiation from the quantum vacuum

A charged particle moving through a medium emits Cherenkov radiation when its velocity exceeds the phase velocity of light in that medium. Under the influence of a strong electromagnetic field, quantum fluctuations can become polarized, imbuing the vacuum with an effective anisotropic refractive index and allowing the possibility of Cherenkov radiation from the quantum vacuum. We analyze the properties of this vacuum Cherenkov radiation in strong laser pulses and the magnetic field around a pulsar, finding regimes in which it is the dominant radiation mechanism. This radiation process may be relevant to the excess signals of high energy photons in astrophysical observations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Plasma Dipole Oscillation Excited by Trapped Electrons Leading to Bursts of Coherent Radiation

Plasma dipole oscillation (PDO) depicted as harmonic motion of a spatially localized block of electrons has, until now, been hypothetical. In practice, the plasma oscillation occurs always as a part of a plasma wave. Studies on radiation burst from plasmas have focused only on coupling of the plasma wave and electromagnetic wave. Here we show that a very-high-field PDO can be generated by the electrons trapped in a moving train of potential wells. The electrons riding on the potential train coherently construct a local dipole moment by charge separation. The subsequent PDO is found to persist stably until its energy is emitted entirely via coherent radiation. In our novel method, the moving potentials are provided by two slightly-detuned laser pulses colliding in a non-magnetized plasma. The radiated energy reaches several millijoules in the terahertz spectral region. The proposed method provides a way of realizing the PDO as a new radiation source in the laboratory. PDO as a mechanism of astrophysical radio-bursts is discussed.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2016

A compact tunable polarized X-ray source based on laser-plasma helical undulators

Laser wakefield accelerators have great potential as the basis for next generation compact radiation sources because their accelerating gradients are three orders of magnitude larger than traditional accelerators. However, X-ray radiation from such devices still lacks of tunability, especially the intensity and polarization distribution. Here we propose a tunable polarized radiation source from a helical plasma undulator based on plasma channel guided wakefield accelerator. When a laser pulse is initially incident with a skew angle relative to the channel axis, the laser and accelerated electrons experience collective spiral motions, which leads to elliptically polarized synchrotron-like radiation with flexible tunability on radiation intensity, spectra and polarization. We demonstrate that a radiation source with millimeter size and peak brilliance of $2\times10^{19} photons/s/mm^{2}/mrad^{2}/0.1%$ bandwidth can be made with moderate laser and electron beam parameters. This brilliance is comparable with the third generation of synchrotron radiation facilities running at similar photon energies, suggesting that laser plasma based radiation sources are promising for advanced applications.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2015

Longitudinal and transverse cooling of relativistic electron beams in intense laser pulses

With the emergence in the next few years of a new breed of high power laser facilities, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how interacting with intense laser pulses affects the bulk properties of a relativistic electron beam. A detailed analysis of the radiative cooling of electrons indicates that, classically, equal contributions to the phase space contraction occur in the transverse and longitudinal directions. In the weakly quantum regime, in addition to an overall reduction in beam cooling, this symmetry is broken, leading to significantly less cooling in the longitudinal than the transverse directions. By introducing an efficient new technique for studying the evolution of a particle distribution, we demonstrate the quantum reduction in beam cooling, and find that it depends on the distribution of energy in the laser pulse, rather than just the total energy as in the classical case.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2015

Cooling of relativistic electron beams in chirped laser pulses

The next few years will see next-generation high-power laser facilities (such as the Extreme Light Infrastructure) become operational, for which it is important to understand how interaction with intense laser pulses affects the bulk properties of a relativistic electron beam. At such high field intensities, we expect both radiation reaction and quantum effects to play a significant role in the beam dynamics. The resulting reduction in relative energy spread (beam cooling) at the expense of mean beam energy predicted by classical theories of radiation reaction depends only on the energy of the laser pulse. Quantum effects suppress this cooling, with the dynamics additionally sensitive to the distribution of energy within the pulse. Since chirps occur in both the production of high-intensity pulses (CPA) and the propagation of pulses in media, the effect of using chirps to modify the pulse shape has been investigated using a semi-classical extension to the Landau--Lifshitz theory. Results indicate that even large chirps introduce a significantly smaller change to final state predictions than going from a classical to quantum model for radiation reaction, the nature of which can be intuitively understood.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2014

Semi-classical beam cooling in an intense laser pulse

We present a novel technique for studying the evolution of a particle distribution using single particle dynamics such that the distribution can be accurately reconstructed using fewer particles than existing approaches. To demonstrate this, the Landau-Lifshiftz description of radiation reaction is adapted into a semi-classical model, for which the Vlasov equation is intractable. Collision between an energetic electron bunch and high-intensity laser pulses are then compared using the two theories. Reduction in beam cooling is observed for the semi-classical case.

physics.plasm-ph↗