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A compact tunable polarized X-ray source based on laser-plasma helical undulators.
J Luo1,2, M Chen1,2, M Zeng1,2
1Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas (Ministry of Education) and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
Scientific Reports
|July 6, 2016
Summary
This study introduces a tunable polarized radiation source using a helical plasma undulator in a laser wakefield accelerator. This breakthrough offers flexible control over X-ray intensity and polarization for advanced applications.
Area of Science:
- Plasma physics
- Accelerator physics
- Radiation source development
Background:
- Laser wakefield accelerators (LWFA) offer high accelerating gradients for compact radiation sources.
- Existing LWFA X-ray sources lack tunability in intensity and polarization distributions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and demonstrate a tunable, polarized radiation source based on a helical plasma undulator within a plasma channel guided LWFA.
- To achieve flexible control over radiation intensity, spectra, and polarization.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing a helical plasma undulator in a plasma channel guided LWFA.
- Inducing collective spiral motions of laser and accelerated electrons via a skewed laser pulse incidence.
- Generating elliptically polarized synchrotron-like radiation.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated a tunable polarized radiation source with millimeter size.
- Achieved a peak brilliance of 2 × 10^19 photons/s/mm^2/mrad^2/0.1% bandwidth with moderate parameters.
- Radiation properties (intensity, spectra, polarization) showed flexible tunability.
Conclusions:
- The proposed helical plasma undulator LWFA provides a promising pathway for next-generation tunable polarized radiation sources.
- The achieved brilliance is comparable to third-generation synchrotron facilities.
- This technology holds potential for advanced scientific and technological applications.
