Specular reflections of relativistic laser pulses from an overdense plasma mirror (PM) were studied experimentally. The pointing stability of the PM and reflectance of the input laser were characterized. The solid material used for the PM was a VHS tape. This study was done for the magnetic and plastic sides of the VHS tape, and for input light of both s and p-polarizations. The laser pulse fluence was varied by changing the focus position relative to the tape surface, which changed the spot size at the tape. The pointing fluctuations of the reflected pulses caused by the PM were 1 mrad. A peak reflectance of 82% was obtained from the plastic surface of the VHS tape when focusing s-polarized light 4 mm from the tape surface (the wavefront quality was confirmed to be conserved). An analytic model was developed to understand the physics of the interaction for each tape material and polarization. Fitting of our model parameters to the experimental results allowed an estimate of the key plasma parameters such as plasma expansion velocity, ionization intensity, and fraction of absorbed laser energy.

We present results of an experiment where two independent Laser-Plasma-Accelerator (LPA) stages are coupled at a short distance by a plasma mirror. Changing the arrival time of the electron beam with respect to the second-stage laser pulse allowed reconstruction of the temporal field structure and determination of the plasma density. Injection into the wakefield of the second stage was verified by a 100 MeV energy gain of the electron beam.

We present results of an experiment where two laser-plasma-accelerator stages are coupled at a short distance by a plasma mirror. Stable electron beams from the first stage were used to longitudinally probe the dark-current-free, quasi-linear wakefield excited by the laser of the second stage. Changing the arrival time of the electron beam with respect to the second stage laser pulse allowed reconstruction of the temporal wakefield structure, determination of the plasma density, and inference of the length of the electron beam. The first stage electron beam could be focused by an active plasma lens to a spot size smaller than the transverse wake size at the entrance of the second stage. This permitted electron beam trapping, verified by a 100 MeV energy gain.

Laser-plasma accelerators (LPAs) are capable of accelerating charged particles to very high energies in very compact structures. In theory, therefore, they offer advantages over conventional, large-scale particle accelerators. However, the energy gain in a single-stage LPA can be limited by laser diffraction, dephasing, electron-beam loading and laser-energy depletion. The problem of laser diffraction can be addressed by using laser-pulse guiding and preformed plasma waveguides to maintain the required laser intensity over distances of many Rayleigh lengths; dephasing can be mitigated by longitudinal tailoring of the plasma density; and beam loading can be controlled by proper shaping of the electron beam. To increase the beam energy further, it is necessary to tackle the problem of the depletion of laser energy, by sequencing the accelerator into stages, each powered by a separate laser pulse. Here, we present results from an experiment that demonstrates such staging. Two LPA stages were coupled over a short distance (as is needed to preserve the average acceleration gradient) by a plasma mirror. Stable electron beams from a first LPA were focused to a twenty-micrometre radius--by a discharge capillary-based active plasma lens--into a second LPA, such that the beams interacted with the wakefield excited by a separate laser. Staged acceleration by the wakefield of the second stage is detected via an energy gain of 100 megaelectronvolts for a subset of the electron beam. Changing the arrival time of the electron beam with respect to the second-stage laser pulse allowed us to reconstruct the temporal wakefield structure and to determine the plasma density. Our results indicate that the fundamental limitation to energy gain presented by laser depletion can be overcome by using staged acceleration, suggesting a way of reaching the electron energies required for collider applications.

Compact, tunable, radially symmetric focusing of electrons is critical to laser-plasma accelerator (LPA) applications. Experiments are presented demonstrating the use of a discharge-capillary active plasma lens to focus 100-MeV-level LPA beams. The lens can provide tunable field gradients in excess of 3000 T/m, enabling cm-scale focal lengths for GeV-level beam energies and allowing LPA-based electron beams and light sources to maintain their compact footprint. For a range of lens strengths, excellent agreement with simulation was obtained.