Low-emittance electron bunches from a laser-plasma accelerator measured using single-shot x-ray spectroscopy

Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Aug 10;109(6):064802. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.064802. Epub 2012 Aug 10.

Abstract

X-ray spectroscopy is used to obtain single-shot information on electron beam emittance in a low-energy-spread 0.5 GeV-class laser-plasma accelerator. Measurements of betatron radiation from 2 to 20 keV used a CCD and single-photon counting techniques. By matching x-ray spectra to betatron radiation models, the electron bunch radius inside the plasma is estimated to be ~0.1 μm. Combining this with simultaneous electron spectra, normalized transverse emittance is estimated to be as low as 0.1 mm mrad, consistent with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Correlations of the bunch radius with electron beam parameters are presented.