Simultaneous generation of quasi-monoenergetic electron and betatron X-rays from nitrogen gas via ionization injection

Upon the interaction of 60 TW Ti: sapphire laser pulses with 4 mm long supersonic nitrogen gas jet, a directional x-ray emission was generated along with the generation of stable quasi-monoenergetic electron beams having a peak energy of 130 MeV and a relative energy spread of ∼ 20%. The betatron x-ray emission had a small divergence of 7.5 mrad and a critical energy of 4 keV. The laser wakefield acceleration process was stimulated in a background plasma density of merely 5.4 × 10¹⁷cm⁻³ utilizing ionization injection. The non-self-focusing and stable propagation of the laser pulse in the pure nitrogen gaseous plasma should be responsible for the simultaneous generation of the high-quality X-ray and electron beams. Those ultra-short and naturally-synchronized beams could be applicable to ultrafast pump-probe experiments.