Demonstration of relativistic electron beam focusing by a laser-plasma lens

• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7860
• Publication Date: 2015-04-16T13:06:34Z
• Authors: C. Thaury; E. Guillaume; A. Döpp; R. Lehe; A. Lifschitz; K. Ta Phuoc; J. Gautier; J-P Goddet; A. Tafzi; A. Flacco; F. Tissandier; S. Sebban; A. Rousse; V. Malka
• Keywords: Divergence (linguistics); Electron optics

Laser-plasma technology promises a drastic reduction of the size high energy electron accelerators. It could make free lasers available to broad scientific community, and push further limits accelerators for physics. Furthermore unique femtosecond nature source makes it promising tool study ultra-fast phenomena. However, applications are hindered by lack suitable lens transport this kind high-current beams, mainly due their divergence. Here we show that issue can be solved using laser-plasma lens, in which field gradients five order magnitude larger than conventional optics. We demonstrate divergence nearly factor three, should allow an efficient coupling beam with line.