Professor Simon Hooker

Abstract:

A method for generating non-uniformly spaced (chirped) trains of high-energy, high-contrast, femtosecond pulses is described and demonstrated. In this method a temporally stretched laser pulse is passed through an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF), a birefringent plate, and a linear polarizer. It is demonstrated that linear and nonlinear variation of the pulse separation within the train may be controlled by changing respectively the third-and fourth-order dispersion introduced by the AOPDF. Programmable, non-uniform pulse trains of this type may find applications in quasi-phase matching high-harmonic generation. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Abstract:

In this book the interaction of radiation and matter, and the principles of laser operation are treated at a level suitable for fourth-year undergraduate ...

Abstract:

Ultrashort electron bunches from laser-driven plasma accelerators hold promise as drivers for short-wavelength free electron lasers. While FEL simulation techniques have been successful in simulating lasing at present-day facilities, the novel sources investigated here are likely to violate a number of widely-held assumptions. For instance the HHG seed radiation, as well as the radiation generated by the bunch, may not conform to the slowly-varying envelope approximation (SVEA) on which the majority of codes rely. Additionally, the longitudinal macroparticle binning precludes the modeling of the full physics of the system. In order to more completely simulate the sub-wavelength effects which arise, we have developed an unaveraged 1-D time-dependent code without the SVEA. We use this to perform numerical analyses and highlight some of the additional features that these new systems present. We conclude that while coherent spontaneous emission from ultra-short bunches may significantly affect start-up, the sub-wavelength structure of HHG seeds has little effect.

Abstract:

Quasi-monoenergetic, laser-driven electron beams of up to ∼ 200 MeV in energy have been generated from steady-state-flow gas cells [1], These beams are emitted within a low-divergence cone of 2.1 ± 0.5 mrad FWHM and feature unparalleled shot-to-shot stability in energy (2.5% rms), pointing direction (1.4 mrad rms) and charge (16% rms) owing to a highly reproducible plasma-density profile within the laser-plasma-interaction volume. Laser-wakefield acceleration (LWFA) in gas cells of this type constitutes a simple and reliable source of relativistic electrons with well defined properties, which should allow for applications such as the production of extreme-ultraviolet undulator radiation in the near future. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.