Laser accelerator

Abstract

In 1979,W. B. Colson and S. K. Ride proposed a new kind of electron accelerator using a uniform magnetic field in combination with a circularly-polarized laser field. A key concept is to couple the oscillating electric field to the electron’s motion so that acceleration is sustained. This dissertation investigates the performance of the proposed laser accelerator using modern high powered lasers and mag-netic fields that are significantly improved over the values in the original analysis. The relativistic equations of motion for the electron are solved analytically and for the first time numerically for more general results than previously reported. Realistic beam effects are investigated to determine the constraints on initial electron energy, injection angle, and phase to achieve optimal performance. This analysis indicates that the selection of an electron’s initial conditions are not as stringent as previously thought. Simulations indicate a university scale system can achieve electron energy gain of over one GeV in a meter.