Compact Laser Wakefield Acceleration Towards High Energy with Micro Plasma Parabola

Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) promises compact accelerators towards the high energy frontier. However, approaching the 100GeV milestone is constrained by the long focal length required for optimal acceleration with high power lasers, e.g., up to hundreds of meters for 10s' or 100 PW lasers. The long focal length originates from optimal laser intensity required to avoid nonlinear effects and hence large spot size and Rayleigh length. We propose a 'telescope' geometry by coupling a micro-plasma parabola (MPP) with a short-focal-length off-axis parabola (OAP), minimizing the focal length to meter-range for LWFA in optimized conditions driven by lasers beyond 1 PW. Full dimensional kinetic simulations demonstrate generation of 9GeV electron bunch within only 1-m optical length - only one-tenth as compared to ordinary approach with the same performance. The proposed MPP provides a solution for compact LWFAs towards single-staged 100GeV acceleration with 100 PW class lasers.