Andrea Angella

My doctoral studies will concentrate on laser-driven particle acceleration, with a primary focus on the experimental investigation of high-energy electron acceleration using strong field gradients in laser-produced plasma wakefields. The research will explore the generation of intense X-ray radiation through these accelerated electron pulses and the unique properties of these rays, such as the extremely short pulse lengths of electron and X-ray pulses, for various applications which span from accelerator physics to medical radiotherapy. The majority of the work will take place at Lund's High-Power Laser Laboratory, with the possibility of conducting some experiments at international laser facilities.

The thesis work will delve into the fundamental studies and applications of laser-plasma electron accelerators and their associated X-ray sources. A future project aims to examine fast processes using laser-generated ultrashort X-ray pulses and explore the combination of laser-accelerated electron pulses and XUV pulses to study rapid processes in materials, gases, or plasmas. The research will take advantage of a significant upgrade to the multi-terawatt laser system, which employs a phase-stabilized, optical parametric amplification-based laser, enabling unique studies of high-intensity laser physics using sub-10 fs laser pulses at up to 100 Hz repetition rates.

During the first year, the focus will be on planning and commissioning the new laser system and the experimental capabilities it enables. This includes characterizing laser parameters (e.g., focal spot, pulse shape, temporal contrast), designing and constructing beam transport and vacuum systems, with the goal of demonstrating laser wakefield acceleration towards the end of the first year. In the subsequent years, several measurement campaigns will be conducted to investigate the effects of carrier-envelope-phase and spatio-temporal couplings, study plasma dispersion on pulse propagation, and explore the generation of X-rays and their applications in imaging and spectroscopy. International collaborators, such as those from LOA in France, Weizmann Institute in Israel, and the EuPRAXIA collaboration, will be invited to propose experiments and participate in the measurements.