Capillary acceleration of electrons

An ultra-intense laser injected a 15 J of power at 1.053 μm in 0.5 ps into a glass capillary of 1-cm long and 60 μm in diameter and accelerated plasma electrons to 100 MeV. 1- and 2-dimensional particle codes describe that a laser wakefield is excited with a gradient of 10 GV/m, accelerating electrons. The blue shift of the laser spectrum supports the plasma of 1016 cm-3 inside the capillary. A bump at the high energy tail suggests the electron trapping in the wakefield. (author)