Abstract
Initial experiments on electron acceleration in self-modulated laser wake-field acceleration regime have been carried out at the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, India, using a 6-TW 45-fs Ti:sapphire laser. The laser beam was focused to an intensity > 10(18) W/cm(2) on a supersonic helium gas jet. Total charge and spatial profile of the electron beam produced were measured using an integrating current transformer and a phosphor screen, respectively. For a plasma density of 5 x 10(19)-10(20) cm(-3), electron beam was produced with a high charge of 2.5-2.7 nC/shot and a divergence of similar to 10-similar to 100 mrad.