Down-ramp injection and independently controlled acceleration of electrons in a tailored laser wakefield accelerator

We report on a study on controlled injection of electrons into the accelerating phase of a plasma wakefield accelerator by tailoring the target density distribution using two independent sources of gas. The tailored density distribution is achieved experimentally by inserting a narrow nozzle, with an orifice diameter of only 400 mu m, into a jet of gas supplied from a 2 mm diameter nozzle. The combination of these two nozzles is used to create two regions of different density connected by a density gradient. Using this setup we show independent control of the charge and energy distribution of the bunches of accelerated electron as well as decreased shot-to-shot fluctuations in these quantities compared to self-injection in a single gas jet. Although the energy spectra are broad after injection, simulations show that further acceleration acts to compress the energy distribution and to yield peaked energy spectra. (Less)