Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The effect of asymmetric laser pulses on plasma wave excitation in a self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator is examined. Laser pulse shape and frequency chirp asymmetries, controlled experimentally in the laser system through a grating pair compressor, are shown to strongly enhance measured electron yields for certain asymmetries. It is shown analytically that a positive (negative) frequency chirp enhances (suppresses) the growth rate of the Raman forward scattering and near-foward Raman sidescatter instabilities, but is of minimal importance for the experimental parameters. Temporal laser pulse shapes with fast rise times (< plasma period) are shown to generate larger wakes (compared to slow rise time pulses) which seed the growth of the plasma wave, resulting in enhanced electron yield.