Ultrashort laser pulse driven inverse free electron laser accelerator experiment

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the ultrashort pulse high gradient inverse free electron laser accelerator experiment carried out at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory which demonstrated gradients exceeding 200 MV/m using a 4 TW 100 fs long 800 nm Ti:Sa laser pulse. Due to the short laser and electron pulse lengths, synchronization was determined to be one of the main challenges in this experiment. This made necessary the implementation of a single-shot, nondestructive, electro-optic sampling based diagnostics to enable time-stamping of each laser accelerator shot with < 100 fs accuracy. The results of this experiment are expected to pave the way towards the development of future GeV-class IFEL accelerators.