Temporal characterization of femtosecond laser-plasma-accelerated electron bunches using terahertz radiation

Phys Rev Lett. 2006 Jan 13;96(1):014801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.014801. Epub 2006 Jan 4.

Abstract

The temporal profile of relativistic laser-plasma-accelerated electron bunches has been characterized. Coherent transition radiation at THz frequencies, emitted at the plasma-vacuum boundary, was measured through electro-optic sampling. Frequencies up to the crystal detection limit of 4 THz were observed. Comparison between data and theory indicates that THz radiation from bunches with structure shorter than approximately = 50 fs (root-mean-square) is emitted. The measurement demonstrates both shot-to-shot stability of the laser-plasma accelerator and femtosecond synchronization between bunch and probe beam.