Summary
In my research, I use intense laser-plasma interactions to create new kinds of compact particle accelerators and X-ray light sources, and I exploit the unique properties of these sources to explore the physics of extreme conditions.
Particle accelerators are well known as important tools of scientific discovery, but they are large and expensive machines. The laser wakefield acceleration technique I research now allows high-energy particle and X-ray beams to be produced in a university size laboratory. Using these accelerators we can now produce multi-GeV electron beams in a plasma accelerator just a few centimetres long (something which a conventional accelerator can only achieve in one hundred metres or more).
The unique properties of the beams that laser wakefield accelerators produce, together with their co-location and easy synchronization with other high-power laser sources, are now helping to drive a new generation of experiments. These experiments aim to understand how matter behaves under extreme conditions – extremely high temperatures, densities and electromagnetic field intensities compared to anything found on Earth, but conditions that are surprisingly common and important throughout the universe.
Publications
Journals
Arran C, Cole JM, Gerstmayr E, et al., 2019, Optimal parameters for radiation reaction experiments, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol:61, ISSN:0741-3335, Pages:1-12
Hoarty DJ, Morton J, Jeffery M, et al., 2019, A proposal to measure iron opacity at conditions close to the solar convective zone-radiative zone boundary, High Energy Density Physics, ISSN:1574-1818
Baird CD, Murphy CD, Blackburn TG, et al., 2019, Realising single-shot measurements of quantum radiation reaction in high-intensity lasers, New Journal of Physics, Vol:21, ISSN:1367-2630
Gould O, Mangles S, Rajantie A, et al., 2019, Observing thermal Schwinger pair production, Physical Review A, Vol:99, ISSN:1050-2947
Dann SJD, Baird CD, Bourgeois N, et al., 2019, Laser wakefield acceleration with active feedback at 5 Hz, Physical Review Accelerators and Beams, Vol:22, ISSN:2469-9888