Axiparabola: a long-focal-depth, high-resolution mirror for broadband high-intensity lasers

Smartsev, Slava; Caizergues, C.; Oubrerie, Kosta; Gautier, J.; Goddet, Jean-Philippe; Tafzi, Amar; Phuoc, K. Ta; Malka, Victor; Thaury, C.

doi:10.1364/ol.44.003414

“…It was subsequently directed to a retroreflecting delay stage, focused by a fused silica axicon lens of base angle ϑ = 5.6 deg and directed into a gas cell by an annular turning mirror. The axicon generated a line focus, which extended throughout the length of the gas cell, with a peak intensity on axis of approximately 5×10 15 W cm −2 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meter-scale conditioned hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized plasma channels

Hooker

¹

,

Alejo

²

,

Arran

³

et al. 2021

Laser Acceleration of Electrons, Protons, and Ions VI

0

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We demonstrate through experiments and numerical simulations that low-density, low-loss, meter-scale plasma channels can be generated by employing a conditioning laser pulse to ionize the neutral gas collar surrounding a hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized (HOFI) plasma channel. We use particle-in-cell simulations to show that the leading edge of the conditioning pulse ionizes the neutral gas collar to generate a deep, low-loss plasma channel which guides the bulk of the conditioning pulse itself as well as any subsequently injected pulses. In proof-of-principle experiments, we generate conditioned HOFI (CHOFI) waveguides with axial electron densities of n e0 ≈ 1×10 17 cm −3 and a matched spot size of 26 μm. The power attenuation length of these CHOFI channels was calculated to be L att = (21 ± 3) m, more than two orders of magnitude longer than achieved by HOFI channels. Hydrodynamic and particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate that meter-scale CHOFI waveguides with attenuation lengths exceeding 1 m could be generated with a total laser pulse energy of only 1.2 J per meter of channel. The properties of CHOFI channels are ideally suited to many applications in high-intensity light-matter interactions, including multi-GeV plasma accelerator stages operating at high pulse repetition rates.

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“…This allows the generation of plasma channels of significantly lower density. We note that Lemos et al have also investigated hydrodynamic channels generated by fieldionized plasmas [32][33][34], and recently Smartsev et al used an axiparabola to generate 10 mm long channels of this type [35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Guiding of high-intensity laser pulses in 100-mm-long hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized plasma channels

Picksley

¹

,

Alejo

²

,

Cowley

³

et al. 2020

Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams

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Hydrodynamic optically-field-ionized (HOFI) plasma channels up to 100 mm long are investigated. Optical guiding is demonstrated of laser pulses with a peak input intensity of 6 × 10 17 W cm −2 through 100 mm long plasma channels with on-axis densities measured interferometrically to be as low as n e0 ¼ ð1.0 AE 0.3Þ × 10 17 cm −3. Guiding is also observed at lower axial densities, which are inferred from magneto-hydrodynamic simulations to be approximately 7 × 10 16 cm −3. Measurements of the power attenuation lengths of the channels are shown to be in good agreement with those calculated from the measured transverse electron density profiles. To our knowledge, the plasma channels investigated in this work are the longest, and have the lowest on-axis density, of any free-standing waveguide demonstrated to guide laser pulses with intensities above >10 17 W cm −2 .

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“…Many methods for guiding high-intensity laser pulses have been investigated. These include grazing-incidence guiding in capillaries [11] and many varieties of plasma channels generated by hydrodynamic expansion [12][13][14][15], capillary discharges [16][17][18], Z pinches [19,20], open-geometry discharges [21], and laser-heated capillary discharges [22,23]. To date, the most successful approaches for driving laser-plasma accelerators are capillary discharges and its laser-heated variant, which have been used to generate electron beams with energies up to 4.2 and 7.8 GeV respectively [24,25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meter-scale conditioned hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized plasma channels

Picksley

¹

,

Alejo

²

,

Shalloo

³

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We demonstrate through experiments and numerical simulations that low-density, low-loss, meter-scale plasma channels can be generated by employing a conditioning laser pulse to ionize the neutral gas collar surrounding a hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized (HOFI) plasma channel. We use particle-in-cell simulations to show that the leading edge of the conditioning pulse ionizes the neutral gas collar to generate a deep, low-loss plasma channel which guides the bulk of the conditioning pulse itself as well as any subsequently injected pulses. In proof-of-principle experiments, we generate conditioned HOFI (CHOFI) waveguides with axial electron densities of n e0 ≈ 1×10 17 cm −3 and a matched spot size of 26 μm. The power attenuation length of these CHOFI channels was calculated to be L att = (21 ± 3) m, more than two orders of magnitude longer than achieved by HOFI channels. Hydrodynamic and particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate that meter-scale CHOFI waveguides with attenuation lengths exceeding 1 m could be generated with a total laser pulse energy of only 1.2 J per meter of channel. The properties of CHOFI channels are ideally suited to many applications in high-intensity light-matter interactions, including multi-GeV plasma accelerator stages operating at high pulse repetition rates.

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Axiparabola: a long-focal-depth, high-resolution mirror for broadband high-intensity lasers

Cited by 51 publications

References 21 publications

Meter-scale conditioned hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized plasma channels

Meter-scale conditioned hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized plasma channels

Guiding of high-intensity laser pulses in 100-mm-long hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized plasma channels

Meter-scale conditioned hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized plasma channels

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