The extraordinary ability of space-charge waves in plasmas to accelerate charged particles at gradients that are orders of magnitude greater than in current accelerators has been well documented. We develop a phenomenological framework for laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) in the 3D nonlinear regime, in which the plasma electrons are expelled by the radiation pressure of a short pulse laser, leading to nearly complete blowout. Our theory provides a recipe for designing a LWFA for given laser and plasma parameters and estimates the number and the energy of the accelerated electrons whether self-injected or externally injected. These formulas apply for self-guided as well as externally guided pulses (e.g. by plasma channels). We demonstrate our results by presenting a sample particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of a $30\mathrm{fs}$, 200 TW laser interacting with a 0.75 cm long plasma with density $1.5\times {10}^{18}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$ to produce an ultrashort (10 fs) monoenergetic bunch of self-injected electrons at 1.5 GeV with 0.3 nC of charge. For future higher-energy accelerator applications, we propose a parameter space, which is distinct from that described by Gordienko and Pukhov [ Phys. Plasmas 12, 043109 (2005)] in that it involves lower plasma densities and wider spot sizes while keeping the intensity relatively constant. We find that this helps increase the output electron beam energy while keeping the efficiency high.

Electron–positron pair plasmas represent a unique state of matter, whereby there exists an intrinsic and complete symmetry between negatively charged (matter) and positively charged (antimatter) particles. These plasmas play a fundamental role in the dynamics of ultra-massive astrophysical objects and are believed to be associated with the emission of ultra-bright gamma-ray bursts. Despite extensive theoretical modelling, our knowledge of this state of matter is still speculative, owing to the extreme difficulty in recreating neutral matter–antimatter plasmas in the laboratory. Here we show that, by using a compact laser-driven setup, ion-free electron–positron plasmas with unique characteristics can be produced. Their charge neutrality (same amount of matter and antimatter), high-density and small divergence finally open up the possibility of studying electron–positron plasmas in controlled laboratory experiments.

A theory that describes how to load negative charge into a nonlinear, three-dimensional plasma wakefield is presented. In this regime, a laser or an electron beam blows out the plasma electrons and creates a nearly spherical ion channel, which is modified by the presence of the beam load. Analytical solutions for the fields and the shape of the ion channel are derived. It is shown that very high beam-loading efficiency can be achieved, while the energy spread of the bunch is conserved. The theoretical results are verified with the particle-in-cell code OSIRIS.

We show analytically and through three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that nonlinear wakefields driven by Laguerre-Gaussian laser pulses can lead to hollow electron self-injection and positron acceleration. We find that higher order lasers can drive donut shaped blowout wakefields with strong positron accelerating gradients comparable to those of a spherical bubble. Corresponding positron focusing forces can be more than an order of magnitude stronger than electron focusing forces in a spherical bubble. Required laser intensities and energies to reach the nonlinear donut shaped blowout are within state-of-the-art experimental conditions.

The acceleration of electrons to $\simeq 0.8\mathrm{GeV}$ has been observed in a self-injecting laser wakefield accelerator driven at a plasma density of $5.5\times {10}^{18}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$ by a 10 J, 55 fs, 800 nm laser pulse in the blowout regime. The laser pulse is found to be self-guided for 1 cm ($>10z_R$), by measurement of a single filament containing $>30\%$ of the initial laser energy at this distance. Three-dimensional particle in cell simulations show that the intensity within the guided filament is amplified beyond its initial focused value to a normalized vector potential of $a_0>6$, thus driving a highly nonlinear plasma wave.

Twisted Laguerre–Gaussian lasers, with orbital angular momentum and characterized by doughnut-shaped intensity profiles, provide a transformative set of tools and research directions in a growing range of fields and applications, from super-resolution microcopy and ultra-fast optical communications to quantum computing and astrophysics. The impact of twisted light is widening as recent numerical calculations provided solutions to long-standing challenges in plasma-based acceleration by allowing for high-gradient positron acceleration. The production of ultra-high-intensity twisted laser pulses could then also have a broad influence on relativistic laser–matter interactions. Here we show theoretically and with ab initio three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that stimulated Raman backscattering can generate and amplify twisted lasers to petawatt intensities in plasmas. This work may open new research directions in nonlinear optics and high–energy-density science, compact plasma-based accelerators and light sources.