- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review Research

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Revealing laser and electron beam evolution in 10-GeV-class laser-plasma accelerators

H. Tang1, A. Picksley1, C. Benedetti1, R. Li1,2, H. E. Tsai1, T. Mandal1, E. Park1,2, K. Nakamura1, J. Stackhouse1,2 et al.

D. Terzani1, C. B. Schroeder1,2, J. van Tilborg1, J. Osterhoff1, C. G. R. Geddes1, and A. J. Gonsalves1,*

  • *Contact author: ajgonsalves@lbl.gov
PDF

Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033352 – Published 22 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/qqcv-f29q

Abstract

Guiding relativistically intense laser pulses in low-density plasmas enables extended acceleration lengths in laser-plasma accelerators (LPAs), allowing for the production of multi-GeV electron beams. Quantitative interpretation of such experiments is often limited by substantial uncertainties in key plasma parameters, particularly the transverse density profile of hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized channels. Distinct plasma density distributions can produce similar terminal beam energies, complicating efforts to infer the underlying interaction physics from measurements at the accelerator exit alone. By combining longitudinally resolved electron beam diagnostics with independent measurements of laser spectral evolution in a 10 GeV LPA, we establish a multiobservable constraint on plasma density profiles. Once plasma down ramps are taken into account, excellent agreement is observed with simulation over the entire accelerator length for two plasma channel sizes. The validated simulations indicate that extending the accelerator length to 65 cm would increase the electron beam energy to 15 GeV. They also point the way to achieving ∼20GeV electron beams in ∼70cm via linear matching using the same 24 J laser energy.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (49)

  1. T. Tajima and J. M. Dawson, Laser electron accelerator, Phys. Rev. Lett. 43, 267 (1979).
  2. E. Esarey, P. Sprangle, J. Krall, and A. Ting, Overview of plasma-based accelerator concepts, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 24, 252 (1996).
  3. E. Esarey, C. B. Schroeder, and W. P. Leemans, Physics of laser-driven plasma-based electron accelerators, Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1229 (2009).
  4. X. Wang, R. Zgadzaj, N. Fazel, Z. Li, S. Yi, X. Zhang, W. Henderson, Y.-Y. Chang, R. Korzekwa, H.-E. Tsai, et al., Quasi-monoenergetic laser-plasma acceleration of electrons to 2 GeV, Nat. Commun. 4, 1988 (2013).
  5. W. P. Leemans, A. J. Gonsalves, H.-S. Mao, K. Nakamura, C. Benedetti, C. B. Schroeder, C. Tóth, J. Daniels, D. E. Mittelberger, S. S. Bulanov, J.-L. Vay, C. G. R. Geddes, and E. Esarey, Multi-GeV electron beams from capillary-discharge-guided subpetawatt laser pulses in the self-trapping regime, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 245002 (2014).
  6. A. J. Gonsalves, K. Nakamura, J. Daniels, C. Benedetti, C. Pieronek, T. C. H. de Raadt, S. Steinke, J. H. Bin, S. S. Bulanov, J. van Tilborg, et al., Petawatt laser guiding and electron beam acceleration to 8 GeV in a laser-heated capillary discharge waveguide, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 084801 (2019).
  7. B. Miao, J. E. Shrock, L. Feder, R. C. Hollinger, J. Morrison, R. Nedbailo, A. Picksley, H. Song, S. Wang, J. J. Rocca, and H. M. Milchberg, Multi-GeV electron bunches from an all-optical laser wakefield accelerator, Phys. Rev. X 12, 031038 (2022).
  8. C. Aniculaesei, T. Ha, S. Yoffe, L. Labun, S. Milton, E. McCary, M. M. Spinks, H. J. Quevedo, O. Z. Labun, R. Sain, et al., The acceleration of a high-charge electron bunch to 10 GeV in a 10-cm nanoparticle-assisted wakefield accelerator, Matter Radiat. Extremes 9, 014001 (2024).
  9. A. Picksley, J. Stackhouse, C. Benedetti, K. Nakamura, H. E. Tsai, R. Li, B. Miao, J. E. Shrock, E. Rockafellow, H. M. Milchberg, C. B. Schroeder, J. van Tilborg, E. Esarey, C. G. R. Geddes, and A. J. Gonsalves, Matched guiding and controlled injection in dark-current-free, 10-GeV-class, channel-guided laser-plasma accelerators, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 255001 (2024).
  10. E. Rockafellow, J. E. Shrock, B. Miao, A. J. Sloss, M. S. Le, S. W. Hancock, S. Zahedpour, R. C. Hollinger, S. Wang, J. King, et al., High charge laser acceleration of electrons to 10 GeV, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A 1077, 170586 (2025).
  11. C. B. Schroeder, E. Esarey, C. Geddes, C. Benedetti, and W. P. Leemans, Physics considerations for laser-plasma linear colliders, Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 13, 101301 (2010).
  12. C. Schroeder, F. Albert, C. Benedetti, J. Bromage, D. Bruhwiler, S. Bulanov, E. Campbell, N. Cook, B. Cros, M. Downer, et al., Linear colliders based on laser-plasma accelerators, J. Instrum. 18, T06001 (2023).
  13. W. Wang, K. Feng, L. Ke, C. Yu, Y. Xu, R. Qi, Y. Chen, Z. Qin, Z. Zhang, M. Fang, et al., Free-electron lasing at 27 nanometres based on a laser wakefield accelerator, Nature (London) 595, 516 (2021).
  14. M. Labat, J. C. Cabadağ, A. Ghaith, A. Irman, A. Berlioux, P. Berteaud, F. Blache, S. Bock, F. Bouvet, F. Briquez, et al., Seeded free-electron laser driven by a compact laser plasma accelerator, Nat. Photon. 17, 150 (2023).
  15. S. K. Barber, F. Kohrell, C. E. Doss, K. Jensen, C. Berger, F. Isono, Z. Eisentraut, S. Schröder, A. J. Gonsalves, K. Nakamura, et al., Greater than 1000-fold gain in a free-electron laser driven by a laser-plasma accelerator with high reliability, Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 055001 (2025).
  16. C. G. Geddes, S. Rykovanov, N. H. Matlis, S. Steinke, J.-L. Vay, E. H. Esarey, B. Ludewigt, K. Nakamura, B. J. Quiter, C. B. Schroeder, et al., Compact quasi-monoenergetic photon sources from laser-plasma accelerators for nuclear detection and characterization, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. B 350, 116 (2015).
  17. F. Albert and A. G. Thomas, Applications of laser wakefield accelerator-based light sources, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 58, 103001 (2016).
  18. N. Lemos, T. Grismayer, L. Cardoso, G. Figueira, R. Issac, D. Jaroszynski, and J. Dias, Plasma expansion into a waveguide created by a linearly polarized femtosecond laser pulse, Phys. Plasmas 20, 063102 (2013).
  19. R. J. Shalloo, C. Arran, L. Corner, J. Holloway, J. Jonnerby, R. Walczak, H. M. Milchberg, and S. M. Hooker, Hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized plasma channels, Phys. Rev. E 97, 053203 (2018).
  20. R. J. Shalloo, C. Arran, A. Picksley, A. von Boetticher, L. Corner, J. Holloway, G. Hine, J. Jonnerby, H. M. Milchberg, C. Thornton, R. Walczak, and S. M. Hooker, Low-density hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized plasma channels generated with an axicon lens, Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 22, 041302 (2019).
  21. S. Smartsev, C. Caizergues, K. Oubrerie, J. Gautier, J.-P. Goddet, A. Tafzi, K. T. Phuoc, V. Malka, and C. Thaury, Axiparabola: A long-focal-depth, high-resolution mirror for broadband high-intensity lasers, Opt. Lett. 44, 3414 (2019).
  22. A. Morozov, A. Goltsov, Q. Chen, M. Scully, and S. Suckewer, Ionization assisted self-guiding of femtosecond laser pulses, Phys. Plasmas 25, 053110 (2018).
  23. A. Picksley, A. Alejo, R. J. Shalloo, C. Arran, A. von Boetticher, L. Corner, J. A. Holloway, J. Jonnerby, O. Jakobsson, C. Thornton, R. Walczak, and S. M. Hooker, Meter-scale conditioned hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized plasma channels, Phys. Rev. E 102, 053201 (2020).
  24. L. Feder, B. Miao, J. E. Shrock, A. Goffin, and H. M. Milchberg, Self-waveguiding of relativistic laser pulses in neutral gas channels, Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 043173 (2020).
  25. K. Oubrerie, A. Leblanc, O. Kononenko, R. Lahaye, I. A. Andriyash, J. Gautier, J.-P. Goddet, L. Martelli, A. Tafzi, K. Ta Phuoc, et al., Controlled acceleration of GeV electron beams in an all-optical plasma waveguide, Light: Sci. Appl. 11, 180 (2022).
  26. A. Picksley, J. Chappell, E. Archer, N. Bourgeois, J. Cowley, D. R. Emerson, L. Feder, X. J. Gu, O. Jakobsson, A. J. Ross, W. Wang, R. Walczak, and S. M. Hooker, All-optical GeV electron bunch generation in a laser-plasma accelerator via truncated-channel injection, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 245001 (2023).
  27. R. Lahaye, K. Oubrerie, O. Kononenko, J. Gautier, I. A. Andriyash, and C. Thaury, Quasimonoenergetic multi-GeV electron acceleration in a plasma waveguide, Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 28, 091301 (2025).
  28. J. E. Shrock, E. Rockafellow, B. Miao, M. Le, R. C. Hollinger, S. Wang, A. J. Gonsalves, A. Picksley, J. J. Rocca, and H. M. Milchberg, Guided mode evolution and ionization injection in meter-scale multi-GeV laser wakefield accelerators, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 045002 (2024).
  29. K. Nakamura, H.-S. Mao, A. J. Gonsalves, H. Vincenti, D. E. Mittelberger, J. Daniels, A. Magana, C. Toth, and W. P. Leemans, Diagnostics, control and performance parameters for the BELLA high repetition rate petawatt class laser, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 53, 1 (2017).
  30. A. Picksley, A. J. Gonsalves, M. Turner, K. Nakamura, L. Obst-Huebl, C. Toth, J. Stackhouse, J. van Tilborg, C. Schroeder, E. Esarey, et al., Commissioning of the second beamline upgrade to BELLA PW, in 2022 IEEE Advanced Accelerator Concepts Workshop (AAC) (IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, 2022).
  31. M. Turner, S. Bulanov, C. Benedetti, A. Gonsalves, W. Leemans, K. Nakamura, J. van Tilborg, C. Schroeder, C. Geddes, and E. Esarey, Strong-field QED experiments using the BELLA PW laser dual beamlines, Eur. Phys. J. D 76, 205 (2022).
  32. R. Li, A. Picksley, C. Benedetti, F. Filippi, J. Stackhouse, L. Fan-Chiang, H. Tsai, K. Nakamura, C. Schroeder, J. van Tilborg, et al., Longitudinal tapering in gas jets for increased efficiency of 10-GeV class laser plasma accelerators, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 96, 043306 (2025).
  33. A. Pak, K. A. Marsh, S. F. Martins, W. Lu, W. B. Mori, and C. Joshi, Injection and trapping of tunnel-ionized electrons into laser-produced wakes, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 025003 (2010).
  34. C. McGuffey, A. G. R. Thomas, W. Schumaker, T. Matsuoka, V. Chvykov, F. J. Dollar, G. Kalintchenko, V. Yanovsky, A. Maksimchuk, K. Krushelnick, V. Yu. Bychenkov, I. V. Glazyrin, and A. V. Karpeev, Ionization induced trapping in a laser wakefield accelerator, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 025004 (2010).
  35. M. Chen, E. Esarey, C. Schroeder, C. Geddes, and W. Leemans, Theory of ionization-induced trapping in laser-plasma accelerators, Phys. Plasmas 19, 033101 (2012).
  36. A. J. Gonsalves, T. P. Rowlands-Rees, B. H. P. Broks, J. J. A. M. van der Mullen, and S. M. Hooker, Transverse interferometry of a hydrogen-filled capillary discharge waveguide, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 025002 (2007).
  37. G. Point, Y. Brelet, L. Arantchouk, J. Carbonnel, B. Prade, A. Mysyrowicz, and A. Houard, Two-color interferometer for the study of laser filamentation triggered electric discharges in air, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 123101 (2014).
  38. B. Miao, E. Rockafellow, J. E. Shrock, S. W. Hancock, D. Gordon, and H. M. Milchberg, Benchmarking of hydrodynamic plasma waveguides for multi-GeV laser-driven electron acceleration, Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 27, 081302 (2024).
  39. K. Nakamura, D. Mittelberger, A. Gonsalves, J. Daniels, H. Mao, F. Stulle, J. Bergoz, and W. Leemans, Pico-coulomb charge measured at BELLA to percent-level precision using a Turbo-ICT, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 58, 034010 (2016).
  40. C. Benedetti, C. B. Schroeder, E. Esarey, C. G. R. Geddes, and W. P. Leemans, Efficient modeling of laser-plasma accelerators with inf&rno, AIP Conf. Proc. 1299, 250 (2010).
  41. C. Benedetti, C. Schroeder, C. Geddes, E. Esarey, and W. Leemans, An accurate and efficient laser-envelope solver for the modeling of laser-plasma accelerators, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 60, 014002 (2018).
  42. inf&rno is in the process of being incorporated into the Beam, Plasma & Accelerator Simulation Toolkit (BLAST), https://blast.lbl.gov/.
  43. N. M. Cook, K. Wolfinger, C. Hall, C. Benedetti, E. Esarey, A. Gonsalves, R. Lehe, A. Picksley, C. McCombs, and C. Schroeder, Hydrodynamic modeling of plasma channel systems for laser plasma accelerators, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A 1079, 170610 (2025).
  44. C. McCombs, Channel-radius tapering for dephasing control in laser-plasma accelerators (unpublished).
  45. E. Esarey and W. P. Leemans, Nonparaxial propagation of ultrashort laser pulses in plasma channels, Phys. Rev. E 59, 1082 (1999).
  46. T. R. Clark and H. M. Milchberg, Optical mode structure of the plasma waveguide, Phys. Rev. E 61, 1954 (2000).
  47. C. Schroeder, C. Benedetti, E. Esarey, J. van Tilborg, and W. Leemans, Group velocity and pulse lengthening of mismatched laser pulses in plasma channels, Phys. Plasmas 18, 083103 (2011).
  48. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.c866t1gpp.
  49. C. Benedetti, C. B. Schroeder, C. G. R. Geddes, E. Esarey, and W. P. Leemans, Efficient modeling of laser-plasma accelerator staging experiments using INF&RNO, AIP Conf. Proc. 1812, 050005 (2017).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033352– Published 22 September, 2026
  • Received 27 April 2026
  • Accepted 25 August 2026
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation