17–22 May 2026
C.I.D
Europe/Zurich timezone

Laser-plasma accelerator based EUV-FEL plasma source development at ELI-ERIC

TUP3029
19 May 2026, 16:00
2h
C.I.D

C.I.D

Deauville, France
Poster Presentation MC3.A22: Advanced techniques/Novel sources: Plasma Wakefield Acceleration Poster session

Speaker

Alex Whitehead (Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines, Czech Technical University in Prague)

Description

Laser-plasma accelerators (LPAs) can generate high-energy, high-quality electron beams, paving the way for a new generation of compact free-electron lasers (FELs).
To achieve this, beam stability and repeatability must improve, relying on advances in high-power lasers and plasma-source development. These are key technologies for the 100 Hz LPA-based FEL, under development at ELI ERIC for EuPRAXIA.

In this report, we analyse two plasma-target concepts designed to generate stable, high-quality electron beams essential for compact Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) FEL applications.
The initial technique creates plasma channels through electrical discharge within a capillary. These channels enhance LPA stability by guiding the laser pulse, and maintaining the laser's focus, thereby improving energy transfer. The characteristics of the channel are influenced by the capillary's shape, gas conditions, and discharge setup.
The second approach uses discharge-free capillaries functioning as gas cells. By modifying the capillary geometry, the plasma density profile can be adjusted to facilitate self-truncated ionisation injection and localise the electron injection. Independent gas inlets allow separate optimisation of injection and acceleration regions.
Furthermore, we investigate the laser-plasma interaction and electron beam acceleration for two different plasma targets using Particle-In-Cell modelling and assess whether the resulting electron beam quality is suitable for LPA-based EUV FEL.

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Author

Alex Whitehead (Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines, Czech Technical University in Prague)

Co-authors

Dr Alexander Molodozhentsev (Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines) Alexandr Jancarek (Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines, Czech Technical University in Prague) Jonathan Tyler Green (Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC (Czech Republic)) Mihail Miceski (Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines, Czech Technical University in Prague) Pavel Sasorov (Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines) Petr Zimmermann (ELI Beamlines Czech Republic) Sebastian Niekrasz (Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC (Czech Republic), Czech Technical University in Prague) Srimanta Maity (Physical Research Laboratory)

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