Professor Simon Hooker

Abstract:

A new class of quasi-phase matching high harmonic generation is proposed where the polarization of the driving field is controlled in a waveguide. The first circularly polarized quasi-phase matched source is shown to be possible. © Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2013.

Abstract:

We investigate quasi-phase-matching over a range of harmonic orders using trains of up to 8 uniformly-spaced counter-propagating pulses. For trains of up to 4 pulses the measured enhancement of the harmonic signal scales with the number of pulses N as (N+1)2, as expected. However, for trains with N > 4, no further enhancement of the harmonic signal is observed. The effect is ascribed to changes in the coherence length with the generating medium. The pressure dependence of quasi-phase-matching is also investigated and it is found that additional peaks in the harmonic intensity are consistent with higher-order QPM processes. © Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2013.

Abstract:

We present a technique for measuring the transverse spatial properties of an optical wavefront. Intensity and phase profiles are recovered by analysis of a series of interference patterns produced by the combination of a scanning X-shaped slit and a static horizontal slit; the spatial coherence may be found from the same data. We demonstrate the technique by characterizing high harmonic radiation generated in a gas cell, however the method could be extended to a wide variety of light sources.

Abstract:

The generation of GeV-scale electron beams in a gas-filled capillary discharge waveguide with good reproducibility is discussed. Beams of electrons with energies above 900 MeV, and with root-mean-square divergences of 3.5 mrad, are observed for a plasma density of 2.2 × 1018 cm-3 and a peak input laser power of 55 TW. The variation of the maximum electron energy with the plasma density is measured and found to agree well with simple models. Injection and acceleration of electrons at the to date lowest plasma density of 3.2 × 1017 cm-3 are reported. The energy spectra of the generated electron beams exhibit good shot-to-shot reproducibility, with the observed variations attributable to the measured shot-to-shot jitter of the laser parameters. Two methods for correcting the effect of beam pointing variations on the measured energy spectrum are described. © IOP Publishing and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.