First Observation of Acceleration of Electrons by a Laser in a Vacuum

David Cline, Lei Shao, Xiaoping Ding, Yukun Ho, Qing Kong, Pingxiao Wang

Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/jmp.2013.41001                

Abstract

Using the BNL Accelerator Test Facility we have shown that a tightly focused laser on a vacuum can accelerate an electron beam in free space. The electron beam had energy of 20 MeV and the CO₂ laser had energy of about 3 Joule. In the readout of the experiment we detect a clear effect for the laser beam off and on. The size of the effect is about 20% and is reproducible over many laser and beam shots. This is a proof of principle and the data are fully consistent with the CAS theory. The results of this experiment may have an impact on the LASER fusion method.

Keywords

Vacuum Laser Acceleration; Laser Phase Velocity; VLA

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	P. M. Woodward, “A Method of Calculating the Field over a Plane Aperture Required to Produce a Given Polar Diagram,” Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, Vol. 93, No. 10, 1947, pp. 1554-1558.
[2]	J. D. Lawson, “Lasers and Accelerators,” IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. 26, No. 3, 1979, pp. 4217-4219. HUdoi:10.1109/TNS.1979.4330749U
[3]	R. B. Palmer, “A Laser-Driven Grating Linac,” Part Accel, Vol. 11, 1980, pp. 81-90.
[4]	M. Baig, “Phase Transitions in Lattice QED,” Nuclear Physics B—Proceedings Supplements, Vol. 42, No. 1-3, 1995, p. 654. HUdoi:10.1016/0920-5632(95)00340-FU
[5]	C. Bula, et al., “Observation of Nonlinear Effects in Compton Scattering,” Physical Review Letters, Vol. 76, 1996, pp. 3116-3119. HUdoi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.3116U
[6]	J. Pang, Y. K. Ho, et al., “Subluminous Phase Velocity of a Focused Laser Beam and Vacuum Laser Acceleration,” Physical Review E, Vol. 66, No. 6, 2002, Article ID: 066501. HUdoi:10.1103/PhysRevE.66.066501U
[7]	J. X. Wang, et al., “Electron Capture and Violent Acceleration by an Extra-Intense Laser Beam,” Physical Review E, Vol. 58, No. 5, 1998, pp. 6575-6577. HUdoi:10.1103/PhysRevE.58.6575U
[8]	L. J. Zhu, et al., “Violent Acceleration of Electrons by an Ultra-Intense Pulsed Laser Beam,” Physics Letters A, Vol. 248, No. 6, 1998, pp. 319-324. HUdoi:10.1016/S0375-9601(98)00685-9U
[9]	Q. Kong, et al., “Conditions for Electron Capture by an Ultraintense Stationary Laser Beam,” Physical Review E, Vol. 61, No. 2, 2000, pp. 1981-1984.
[10]	L. Shao, D. Cline, X. P. Ding, et al., “Simulation Prediction and Experiment Setup of Vacuum Laser Acceleration at Brookhaven National Lab-Accelerator Test Facility,” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A, Vol. 701, 2013, pp. 25-99.
[11]	L. Shao, D. Cline, X. P. Ding, et al., “Vacuum Laser Acceleration at BNL-ATF,” Proceedings of PAC09, Vancouver, 4-8 May 2009, pp. 3022-3024.
[12]	L. Shao, “Research on Vacuum Laser Acceleration and Proof-Of-Principle Experiment,” PhD Dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, 2012.