esults are presented on the generation of quasi-monoenergeticelectron beams with energy up to 1GeV using a 40TW laser and a 3.3 cm-long hydrogen-filled capillary discharge waveguide. Electron beams were not observed without a plasma channel, indicating that self-focusing alone could not be relied upon for effective guidingof the laser pulse. Results are presented of the electronbeam spectra, and the dependence of the reliability of producingelectron beams as a function of laser and plasma parameters.

Laser wakefield accelerators produce accelerating gradients up to hundreds of GeV/m, and recently demonstrated 1-10 MeV energy spread at energies up to 1 GeV using electrons self-trapped from the plasma. Controlled injection and staging may further improve beam quality by circumventing tradeoffs between energy, stability, and energy spread/emittance. We present experiments demonstrating production of a stable electron beam near 1 MeV with hundred-keV level energy spread and central energy stability by using the plasma density profile to control selfinjection, and supporting simulations. Simulations indicate that such beams can be post accelerated to high energies,potentially reducing momentum spread in laser acceleratorsby 100-fold or more.