Abstract

We report the development of corrugated slow-wave plasma guiding structures with application to quasi-phase-matched direct laser acceleration of charged particles. These structures support guided propagation at intensities up to $2\times {10}^{17}\mathrm{W}∕{\mathrm{cm}}^2$, limited at present by our current laser energy and side leakage. Hydrogen, nitrogen, and argon plasma waveguides up to $1.5\mathrm{cm}$ in length with a corrugation period as short as $35\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{m}$ are generated in extended cryogenic cluster jet flows, with corrugation depth approaching 100%. These structures remove the limitations of diffraction, phase matching, and material damage thresholds and promise to allow high-field acceleration of electrons over many centimeters using relatively small femtosecond lasers. We present simulations that show that a laser pulse power of $1.9\mathrm{TW}$ should allow an acceleration gradient larger than $80\mathrm{MV}∕\mathrm{cm}$. A modest power of only $30\mathrm{GW}$ would still allow acceleration gradients in excess of $10\mathrm{MV}∕\mathrm{cm}$.

© 2008 Optical Society of America

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