CO[sub 2] Laser Technology for Advanced Particle Accelerators. Revision

Book excerpt: Short-pulse, high-power CO[sub 2] lasers open new prospects for development of ultra-high gradient laser-driven electron accelerators. The advantages of[lambda]=10[mu]m CO[sub 2] laser radiation over the more widely exploited solid state lasers with[lambda][approximately]1[mu]m are based on a[lambda][sup 2]-proportional ponderomotive potential, [lambda]-proportional phase slippage distance, and[lambda]-proportional scaling of the laser accelerator structures. We show how a picosecond terawatt CO[sub 2] laser that is under construction at the Brookhaven Accelerator Test Facility may benefit the ATF's experimental program of testing far-field, near-field, and plasma accelerator schemes.