Influence of an external axial magnetic field on betatron radiation from the interaction of a circularly polarized laser with plasma.

In this paper, theoretical analyses and numerical calculations are carried out to investigate the influence of an externally applied axial constant magnetic field on electrons' betatron radiation when an ultra-short, circularly polarized laser pulse of a peak intensity I0 = 5×1019 W/cm² propagates in plasma of an electron density n0 = 1020/cm³. Ring-like x-ray radiation is emitted from the electrons' betatron oscillations. The applied magnetic field can modulate the resonance process between an electron's betatron oscillation and the laser electric field, and the electron energy gain from the direct laser acceleration is thus changed. When a magnetic field of strength B0=3×10³ T is applied, which is in anti-parallel to the self-generated axial magnetic field, both the trapping efficiency of electrons by the wakefield and the maximum accelerated energy are increased. The maximum electron energy, the peak of angular radiation, and the total radiation energy are increased by 11.0%, 45.6%, and 41.1%, respectively, and the radiation spectra are blue-shifted significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]