Seeded self-modulated laser wakefield acceleration

A new approach to laser-wakefield acceleration (LWFA) has been analyzed. A seed electron beam bunch precedes the laser pulse into the plasma. This seed bunch initiates formation of plasma waves via a plasma wakefield acceleration mechanism. The amplitude of the plasma waves is subsequently amplified by the laser pulse via a self-modulated LWFA (SM-LWFA) process. This method enables the generation of strong wakefields even when the laser pulse by itself has characteristics that are insufficient for driving resonant LWFA or SM-LWFA. Another advantage is the wakefield formation begins at the seed bunch and does not start from noise as typically occurs in SM-LWFA. This feature may be helpful when the phase of the wakefield must be accurately controlled, for example, when staging multiple LWFA devices in series.