All optical electron injector using an intense ultrashort pulse laser and a solid wire target

摘要

Energetic electron bunches were generated by irradiating a solid tungsten wire 13 μm wide with 50 femtosecond pulses at an intensity of ～ 3 x 10~(18) W/cm~2. The electron yield, energy spectrum and angular distribution were measured. These energetic electron bunches are suitable for injection into a laser driven plasma accelerator. An all-optical electron injector based on this approach could simplify timing and alignment in future laser-plasma accelerator experiments.