Laser-driven pointed acceleration of electrons with preformed plasma lens

The simultaneous laser-driven acceleration and angular manipulation of the fast electron beam are experimentally demonstrated. The bunch of multi-MeV energy charged particles is generated during the propagation of the femtosecond laser pulse through the near-critical plasma slab accompanied by plasma channeling. Plasma is formed by the controlled breakdown of a thin-tape target by a powerful nanosecond prepulse. The electron beam pointing approach is based on the refraction of a laser pulse in the presence of a strong radial density gradient in the breakdown of the tape with a small displacement of the femtosecond laser beam relative to the breakdown symmetry axis. A shift of several micrometers makes it possible to achieve beam deflection by an angle up to 10° with acceptable beam charge and spectrum conservation. This opens up opportunities for in situ applications for scanning objects with an electron beam and the multistage electron beam energy gain in consecutive laser accelerators without bulk magnetic optics for particles. Experimental findings are supported by numerical particle-in-cell calculations of laser-plasma acceleration and hydrodynamic simulations.