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| Dissertation / PhD Thesis | PUBDB-2025-01174 |
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2024
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Please use a persistent id in citations: urn:nbn:de:gbv:18-ediss-120921 doi:10.3204/PUBDB-2025-01174
Abstract: Over the past two decades, laser plasma accelerators (LPAs) have emerged as a groundbreakingtechnology with immense potential for electron acceleration. Their ability to sustainexceptionally high accelerating gradients, on the order of 100 GV/m, and provide electronbunches with only few femtoseconds duration, promises a compact, cost-effective solutionfor numerous industrial, commercial, and medical applications. Yet, to transitionfrom experimental setups to practical applications, it is crucial to enhance their robustness,reliability, and repetition rate. In this context, industrial-quality Ytterbium:Yttriumaluminium-garnet (Yb:YAG) lasers present an ideal, economically-efficient option, thanksto their inherently small quantum defect, high slope efficiency and high average power.This thesis explores the feasibility of using industrial Yb:YAG lasers as drivers for plasmaaccelerators. Typically, these lasers deliver pulses of relatively long duration, extending tothe picosecond-level. However, to excite a plasma wave, femtosecond durations are usuallyrequired. Hence, the temporal compression of the laser output to a few optical cycles is thefirst critical aspect under analysis. To address this challenge, an efficient double multi-passcell(MPC) post-compression scheme is employed, achieving the highest-ever compressionfactor to date for a 10 mJ-level pulse.In addition to the driver laser, the plasma source plays a key role in the laser-plasma interaction,shaping the plasma density profile. Therefore, an extensive analysis of the mostcommon sources for high-average-power LPA is presented. To overcome the limitationsusually faced, a novel microfluidic source is proposed with unique capabilities for precisetailoring of the plasma profile along the laser axis, at the μm level. Its exceptional finetuningability is demonstrated through a pioneering Bayesian optimisation tool, combiningfluid dynamics and particle-in-cell simulations. This novel optimisation approach holdsthe promise to significantly boost the performances of LPA, particularly in applicationorientedscenarios.Finally, the post-compressed laser output is used to demonstrate, for the first time, aplasma wakefield driven by an industrial Yb:YAGlaser. The laser-plasma interaction is thoroughlyanalysed and a clear path towards the first industrial-laser-drivem electron accelerationis presented.
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