Radiation from laser-microplasma-waveguide interactions in the ultra-intense regime

DFG [Transregio TR18]; EU; National Natural Science Foundation of China [11505262, 11125526, 11335013]When a high-contrast ultra-relativistic (>10(20) W/cm(2)) laser beam enters a micro-sized plasma waveguide, the pulse energy is coupled into waveguide modes, which significantly modifies the interaction between the electrons and electromagnetic wave. Electrons pulled out from the walls of the waveguide form a dense helical bunch inside the channel and are efficiently accelerated by the transverse magnetic modes to hundreds of MeV. The asymmetry in the transverse electric and magnetic fields drives strong oscillations, which lead to the emission of bright, well-collimated, hard X-rays. In this paper, we present our study on the underlying physics in the aforementioned process using 3D particle-in-cell simulations. The mechanism of electron acceleration and the dependence of radiation properties on different laser plasma parameters are addressed. An analytic model and basic scalings for X-ray emission are also presented by considering the lowest optical modes in the waveguide, which is adequate to describe the basic phenomenon. In addition, the effects of high-order modes as well as laser polarization are also qualitatively discussed. The considered X-ray source has promising features, potentially making it a competitive candidate for a future tabletop synchrotron source. Published by AIP Publishing