Particle-in-cell modeling of plasma-based accelerators in two and three dimensions

In this dissertation, a fully object-oriented, fully relativistic, multidimensional Particle-In-Cell code was developed and applied to answer key questions in plasma-based accelerator research. The simulations increase the understanding of the processes in laser plasma and beam-plasma interaction, allow for comparison with experiments, and motivate the development of theoretical models. The simulations support the idea that the injection of electrons in a plasma wave by using a transversely propagating laser pulse is possible. The beam parameters of the injected electrons found in the simulations compare reasonably with beams produced by conventional methods and therefore laser injection is an interesting concept for future plasma-based accelerators. Simulations of long laser pulses, such as the ones used in self- modulated laser wakefield acceleration, predict the existence of a hosing instability with a wavelength longer than the plasma wavelength. It is found that this effect might increase the emittance of electron beams produced by this acceleration method. Simulations of the optical guiding of a laser wakefield driver in a parabolic plasma channel support the idea that electrons can be accelerated over distances much longer than the Rayleigh length in a channel. Simulations of plasma wakefield acceleration in the nonlinear blowout regime give a detailed picture of the highly nonlinear processes involved. Using OSIRIS, we have also been able to perform full scale simulations of the E-157 experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. These simulations have aided the experimentalists and they have assisted in the development of a theoretical model that is able to reproduce some important aspects of the full PIC simulations.