Generation of low jitter capillary discharge channels triggered by a relatively low-energy laser pulse is reported. For ablative discharges in polyethylene and boron nitride capillaries, the dependences of the breakdown delay and jitter on the incident laser intensity and discharge voltage are presented. Low jitter (5 ns and less) and the absence of electric noise associated with the discharge ignition make this method very useful for applications such as channel-guided laser-wakefield accelerators and x-ray lasers, where precise synchronization of the discharge with a laser and/or electron beam entering the channel is required.
A 5 J, 180 ps CO2 laser pulse is channeled by a 17 mm long capillary discharge. Plasma dynamic simulations confirm occurrence of optical guiding conditions along a plasma column of a quasiparabolic radial profile with the minimum axial free-electron density ∼1017 cm−3.
We describe our studies of the generation of plasma wake fields by a relativistic electron bunch and of phasing between the longitudinal and transverse fields in the wake. The leading edge of the electron bunch excites a high-amplitude plasma wake inside the overdense plasma column, and the acceleration and focusing wake fields are probed by the bunch tail. By monitoring the dependence of the acceleration upon the plasma's density, we approached the beam-matching condition and achieved an energy gain of 0.6 MeV over the 17 mm plasma length, corresponding to an average acceleration gradient of 35 MeV/m. Wake-induced modulation in energy and angular divergence of the electron bunch are mapped within a wide range of plasma density. We confirm a theoretical prediction about the phase offset between the accelerating and focusing components of plasma wake.
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