High-flux electron beams from laser wakefield accelerators driven by petawatt lasers

Laser wakefield accelerators (LWFAs) are considered to be one of the most competitive next-generation accelerator candidates. In this paper, we will study the potential high-flux electron beam production of an LWFA driven by petawatt-level laser pulses. In our three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, an optimal set of parameters gives $\sim 40nC$ of charge with $2PW$ laser power, thus $\sim 400kA$ of instantaneous current if we assume the electron beam duration is 100 fs. This high flux and its secondary radiation are widely applicable in nuclear and QED physics, industrial imaging, medical and biological studies. (paper)