Electron injection by a nanowire in the bubble regime

Abstract

The triggering of wave-breaking in a three-dimensional laser plasma wake (bubble) is investigated. The Coulomb potential from a nanowire is used to disturb the wake field to initialize the wave-breaking. The electron acceleration becomes more stable and the laser power needed for self-trapping is lowered. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations were performed. Electrons with a charge of about 100pC can be accelerated stably to energy about 170MeV with a laser energy of 460mJ. The first step towards tailoring the electron beam properties such as the energy, energy spread, and charge is discussed.