Hydrodynamically shaping plasmas for enhanced Laser Plasma Acceleration

Laser Wakefield Acceleration (LWFA) is a compact, plasma-based accelerator technique that can generate accelerating fields up to GeV/cm, ~1000 times greater than conventional RF accelerators. These compact accelerators can help further the study of fundamental physics and improve applications in other fields, such as functioning as a compact x-ray source for medical applications. We are improving the LWFA process by producing Helium waveguides via optical field ionization using 60mJ, 40 fs pulses that can extend the propagation of the 800 nm, 700 mJ, 40 fs wakefield accelerating pulse by many Rayleigh ranges. We also introduce another 10 mJ, 40 fs plasma ionizing beam to facilitate downramp injection at the beginning of the plasma waveguide, and study its structure and effectiveness at inducing electron injection in a guided plasma channel.