Electron acceleration in the plasma beat‐wave experiment at Ecole Polytechnique

Recent results of a plasma Beat‐Wave acceleration experiment are presented. A plasma wave is created in a D2 plasma by the beating of a Nd‐YAG and a Nd‐YLF laser pulse. Electrons at energies of 3 MeV are injected into the plasma. Several hundred electrons accelerated up to 3.7 MeV are observed in correlation with a Thomson scattering signal. The dependence of the electron acceleration on the plasma density demonstrates the beat‐wave origin of the acceleration mechanism. This paper is mainly devoted to the description of the experimental set‐up. A particular attention was paid to efficient electron injection and to background noise suppression. A preliminary analysis of the results is also presented.