Vacuum laser acceleration (VLA) of electrons has been an intense field of research for a long time due to the extremely high (>1 TV/m) accelerating fields. However, it is very challenging to realize and only a few promising experiments have been performed which have demonstrated the principle. Here, we report on the interaction of relativistic intensity (1020 Wcm-2) sub-two optical cycle (<5 fs) laser pulses with nanotips to realize and optimize VLA. Various properties of accelerated electrons (angular distribution, charge, and electron spectrum) are measured with different intensities and carrier envelope phases of the laser pulse. Among others, waveform dependence of the electron propagation direction is observed. Furthermore, comparable or even higher electron energies beyond 10 MeV are detected with lower laser intensity, i.e., longer focusing, than with high intensity. These surprising results are reproduced using particle-in-cell simulations, which indicate a nanophotonics electron emission from the nanotip followed by VLA. In fact, the unexpected observations are a direct proof of the VLA process and provide a way to optimize it towards higher energy, isolated, attosecond electron bunch generation.
As an alternative to Compton backscattering and bremsstrahlung, the process of colliding highenergy electron beams with strong laser fields can more efficiently provide both cleaner and brighter
source of photons in the multi-GeV range for fundamental studies in nuclear and quark-gluon physics.
In order to favor the emission of high-energy quanta and minimize their decay into electron-positron
pairs the fields must not only be sufficiently strong, but also well localized. We here examine
these aspects and develop the concept of a laser-particle collider tailored for high-energy photon
generation. We show that the use of multiple colliding laser pulses with 0.4 PW of total power is
capable of converting more than 18 % of the initial multi-GeV electron beam energy into photons,
each of which carries more than half of the electron energy
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