Continuous Staging in Laser Wakefield Acceleration using a Continuous or Discrete Flying Focus*

Recent theoretical work has suggested the possibility of using flying focus pulses, which feature controllable envelope velocities and propagation distances, to extend the acceleration length in laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) beyond the limits imposed by pump depletion and dephasing of conventional laser drivers [1,2]. In the nonlinear regime the plasma will significantly modify the behavior of the laser as compared to the vacuum propagation. In such situations it may be advantageous to use a discrete set of pulses delayed with respect to each other and  focused to different points. Here we present theory and preliminary simulations exploring the use of a continuous and “discrete” flying foci. We explore and compare the efficiency and beam quality of each concept.

 

[1] Palastro et al., PRL 124, 134802 (2020)

[2] Caizergues et al., Nat. Photonics 14 (2020)