Discharge Characteristics of a Gas-Filled Capillary Plasma for Laser Wakefield Acceleration

Author

Kim, M.S. ; Jang, D.G. ; Uhm, H.S. ; Hwang, S.W. ; Lee, I.W. ; Suk, H.

Author_Institution

Grad. Program of Photonics & Appl. Phys., Gwangju Inst. of Sci. & Technol., Gwangju, South Korea

Volume

39

Issue

8

fYear

2011

Firstpage

1638

Lastpage

1643

Abstract

A gas-filled capillary plasma source for potential use in conjunction with laser wakefield acceleration is developed, and its discharge characteristics are presented here. In the capillary, helium or hydrogen gas (~150 torr in pressure) is injected, and a pulsed high voltage (~25 kV) is applied for electrical discharge and plasma production. The discharge properties of the helium and hydrogen gases are compared. The plasma densities inside the capillary hole are measured with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and are obtained separately by a simple analysis using the diffusion equation and measured current profiles.

Keywords

discharges (electric); helium; hydrogen; light interferometry; plasma accelerators; plasma density; plasma diagnostics; plasma light propagation; plasma production by laser; plasma sources; plasma transport processes; wakefield accelerators; H₂; He; Mach-Zehnder interferometer; capillary hole; current profiles; diffusion equation; discharge characteristics; discharge properties; electrical discharge; gas-filled capillary plasma source; helium gas; hydrogen gas; laser wakefield acceleration; plasma densities; plasma production; pulsed high voltage; Acceleration; Current measurement; Discharges; Gas lasers; Helium; Plasma density; Capillary plasma; laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA); plasma diffusion;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2011.2153213

Filename

5872065