Signature

The Laser Electron Acceleration Project (LEAP) group has been conducting a proof of principle experiment on the acceleration of electrons with a pair of crossed laser beams. To date there has been no experimental verification of electron acceleration with crossed laser beams in a dielectric loaded vacuum, although the energy profile of an accelerated electron bunch has been well described by theory. The experiment is subject to unavoidable time dependent fluctuations in the independent variables. Changes in the experimental parameters can dramatically alter the beam profile incident near the focal plane of a high-resolution spectrometer located downstream from the accelerator cell. Neural networks (NNs) appear to provide an ideal tool for the positive determination of an acceleration event, being adaptable and able to handle highly complex nonlinear problems. Typical NNs under such conditions require a training set consisting of a representative data set along with “answers ” which have been determined to be consistent with the variable state of the experimental parameters. A strategy of pattern recognition with respect to the status of independent variables can be employed to determine the signature characteristics of a laser perturbed electron bunch. Data cuts representing characteristics that were thought to be distinctive to accelerated beam profile images were implemented in the algorithm employed