3D map of the longitudinal wakefield generated by the incoherent combination of 208 low-energy laser beamlets.
One attractive approach to producing powerful laser pulses, as required in laser-plasma accelerators, involves combining many lower-powered pulses. Theory-guided modeling at the BELLA Center suggests that when the destination is the plasma of an LPA, the similarity of these pulses does not need to be as rigorous as previously thought—welcome news for the cost and complexity of LPA systems.
Their work is the cover story in the May 2014 issue of the refereed journal Physics of Plasmas, and is summarized and interpreted in this news release by American Institute of Physics staff and this story by LBNL Public Affairs.
