Laser plasma accelerators

This review article highlights the tremendous evolution of the research on laser plasma accelerators which has, in record time, led to the production of high quality electron beams at the GeV level, using compact laser systems. I will describe the path we followed to explore different injection schemes and I will present the most significant breakthrough which allowed us to generate stable, high peak current and high quality electron beams, with control of the charge, of the relative energy spread and of the electron energy. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3695389]