We report on a study on controlled injection of electrons into the accelerating phase of a plasma wakefield accelerator by tailoring the target density distribution using two independent sources of gas. The tailored density distribution is achieved experimentally by inserting a narrow nozzle, with an orifice diameter of only $400\mu \mathrm{m}$, into a jet of gas supplied from a 2 mm diameter nozzle. The combination of these two nozzles is used to create two regions of different density connected by a density gradient. Using this setup we show independent control of the charge and energy distribution of the bunches of accelerated electron as well as decreased shot-to-shot fluctuations in these quantities compared to self-injection in a single gas jet. Although the energy spectra are broad after injection, simulations show that further acceleration acts to compress the energy distribution and to yield peaked energy spectra.

• Received 23 March 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.18.071303

This article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society