High-repetition-rate, all-reflective optical guiding and electron acceleration in helium using an off-axis axicon
We present recent results on high-power guiding and laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) in the ELBA beamline at ELI Beamlines, using the L3-HAPLS laser system (13 J, 30 fs, 0.2 Hz). By employing self-waveguiding in a 20 cm plasma channel in helium, we achieved stable acceleration of electron beams to energies approaching 5 GeV. A novel all-reflective optical setup, including an off-axis reflective axicon, enabled efficient acceleration at 0.2 Hz and guiding at repetition rates up to 3.3 Hz. This compact single laser, single compressor implementation of plasma channels for electron acceleration stabilizes electron pointing and enhances energy gain without requiring modifications to the laser system, paving the way for broader adoption of the technology across user facilities.
Authors
- A. Sloss (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3494-7927)
- Davorin Peceli
- S. V. Bulanov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8305-0289)
- B. Miao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5647-4067)
- Carlo Maria Lazzarini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0750-8272)
- E. Rockafellow (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8935-8628)
- J. E. Shrock (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1147-2145)
- Michal Nevrkla (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1881-7882)
- Alexandr Jančárek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2510-6592)
- S. W. Hancock (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5132-5516)
- Leonardo Vila Nova Goncalves
- Gabriele Maria Grittani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4394-854X)
- Illia Zymak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0224-7616)
- Jiří Šišma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7704-136X)
- Howard M. Milchberg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0338-3636)
- Filip Vitha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4350-5485)
- Alžběta Špádová (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-3610-1202)
- S. Lorenz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1620-7976)
- Andrea Kollárová
Institutions
- Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines (CZ)
- Czech Technical University in Prague (CZ)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- High Power Laser Science and Engineering
- Published
- 2026-05-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1017/hpl.2026.10154
- Primary Topic
- Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics
- Type
- preprint
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00