Laser red shifting based characterization of wakefield excitation in a laser-plasma accelerator

Optical spectra of a drive laser exiting a channel guided laser-plasma accelerator (LPA) are analyzed through experiments and simulations to infer the magnitude of the excited wakefields. The experiments are performed at sufficiently low intensity levels and plasma densities to avoid electron beam generation via self-trapping. Spectral redshifting of the laser light is studied as an indicator of the efficiency of laser energy transfer into the plasma through the generation of coherent plasma wakefields. Influences of input laser energy, plasma density, temporal and spatial laser profiles, and laser focal location in a plasma channel are analyzed. Energy transfer is found to be sensitive to details of laser pulse shape and focal location. The experimental conditions for these critical parameters are modeled and included in particle-in-cell simulations. Simulations reproduce the redshift of the laser within uncertainties of the experiments and produce an estimate of the wake amplitudes in the experiments as a function of amount of redshift. The results support the practical use of laser redshifting to quantify the longitudinally averaged accelerating field that a particle would experience in an LPA powered below the self-trapping limit. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.