Abstract: We show that the properties of the electron beam and bright x-rays produced by a laser wakefield accelerator can be predicted if the distance over which the laser self-focuses and compresses prior to self-injection is taken into account. A model based on oscillations of the beam inside a plasma bubble shows that performance is optimised when the plasma length is matched to the laser depletion length. With a 200~TW laser pulse this results in an x-ray beam with median photon energy of \unit[20]{keV}, $> 6\times 10^{8}$ photons above \unit[1]{...
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Topics: 
Atomic physics
Optics