Development and characterization of very dense submillimetric gas jets for laser-plasma interaction

Sylla, F.; Veltcheva, M.; Kahaly, Subhendu; Flacco, Alessandro; Malka, Victor

doi:10.1063/1.3697859

Cited by 87 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…By varying the prepulse we were able to decrease the front density scale-lengths down to ≈30 µm (1/e). These targets were subsequently used (Tresca et al 2015) to generate reproducible proton and helium beams with energies up to E ∼ 1 MeV. This paper gives a detailed overview of the generation of a prepulse induced blast wave.…”

Section: N P Dover and Othersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Steeper density gradients allow stronger localised energy deposition and can enhance shockwave generation (Palmer et al 2014;Tresca et al 2015). To achieve a steep vacuum-plasma interface, a blast wave can be generated in the gas target close enough to the gas-jet edge that the shock expands into the vacuum region.…”

Section: Modelling Of Prepulse-driven Blast Wavesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous work has demonstrated longitudinal (along the laser-axis) (Willingale et al 2006) and transverse (perpendicular to the laser-axis) (Krushelnick et al 1999;Wei et al 2004;Sylla et al 2012;Lifschitz et al 2014) acceleration of helium ions from targets below the relativistic critical density at which the plasma becomes opaque to the laser n cr =γ n c =γ 0 m e ω 2 L /e 2 , whereγ is the cycle-averaged electron Lorentz factor, n c is the critical density and ω L is the laser frequency. However, transverse acceleration creates a divergent expansion of the ions, making it not suitable for high flux applications, whilst longitudinal acceleration from underdense targets has only been reported using laser intensities in excess of 10 20 W cm −2 and longer ∼1 ps pulses as the produced longitudinal accelerating fields are low compared to thin foil targets (Willingale et al 2006).…”

Section: N P Dover and Othersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optical shaping of gas targets for laser–plasma ion sources

et al. 2016

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We report on the experimental demonstration of a technique to generate steep density gradients in gas-jet targets of interest to laser-plasma ion acceleration. By using an intentional low-energy prepulse, we generated a hydrodynamic blast wave in the gas to shape the target prior to the arrival of an intense CO 2 (λ ≈ 10 µm) drive pulse. This technique has been recently shown to facilitate the generation of ion beams by shockwave acceleration (Tresca et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 115 (9), 2015, 094802). Here, we discuss and introduce a model to understand the generation of these blast waves and discuss in depth the experimental realisation of the technique, supported by hydrodynamics simulations. With appropriate prepulse energy and timing, this blast wave can generate steepened density gradients as short as l ≈ 20 µm (1/e), opening up new possibilities for laser-plasma studies with near-critical gaseous targets.

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Section: N P Dover and Othersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Modelling Of Prepulse-driven Blast Wavesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: N P Dover and Othersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optical shaping of gas targets for laser–plasma ion sources

et al. 2016

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“…A very particular type gas jet nozzles has been developed for laser-driven proton acceleration. Here near-critical plasma densities are reached, which requires operation at very high pressure (>100 bar) and small exit diameters (<1 mm) [26].…”

Section: Gas Jet Targets For Laser-plasma Acceleratorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

3D printing of gas jet nozzles for laser-plasma accelerators

Döpp

Guillaume

Thaury

et al. 2016

Review of Scientific Instruments

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Recent results on laser wakefield acceleration in tailored plasma channels have underlined the importance of controlling the density profile of the gas target. In particular it was reported that appropriate density tailoring can result in improved injection, acceleration and collimation of laseraccelerated electron beams. To achieve such profiles innovative target designs are required. For this purpose we have reviewed the usage of additive layer manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, in order to produce gas jet nozzles. Notably we have compared the performance of two industry standard techniques, namely selective laser sintering (SLS) and stereolithography (SLA). Furthermore we have used the common fused deposition modeling (FDM) to reproduce basic gas jet designs and used SLA and SLS for more sophisticated nozzle designs. The nozzles are characterized interferometrically and used for electron acceleration experiments with the Salle Jaune terawatt laser at Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée.Particle accelerators are an essential tool in science, industry and medicine. While a century of R&D has lead to a high level of control and stability, field emission and subsequent vacuum breakdown still limit the maximum field gradients to around 100 MV/m [1]. This bottleneck prevents high energy accelerators from becoming more compact and affordable. Plasma-based accelerators overcome these limitations by use of a pre-ionized medium and can thus reach higher acceleration gradients, in excess of 100 GV/m [2]. In particular it was observed that electrons can be accelerated to highly relativistic energies in the wake of an intense laser pulse propagating through a plasma [3]. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that the kinetic energy of these electron beams can be converted on a millimeter scale into energetic photon beams using e.g. bremsstrahlung conversion [4,5], magnetic undulators [6], inverse Compton backscattering [7,8] or betatron emission from plasma wigglers [9].The density profile of the plasma target plays a crucial role for the operation of a laser-wakefield accelerator. In particular, many recent innovations were achieved by means of target engineering. For instance it has been shown that longitudinal density tailoring can be used to localize electron injection [10,11], increase the beam energy [12], reduce the beam energy spread [13] and the beam divergence [14]. Target engineering is therefore very important for the advance of the research field. However, there are a number of problems with the current target manufacturing technology. One is that the targets become more and more complex and traditional manufacturing techniques are brought to their limits. Also, most high-intensity lasers are located at user facilities and laser-plasma acceleration experiments have a typical duration of a few weeks. With conventional production chains it is therefore often impossible to innovate targets during a campaign. As an alternative we have investigated the usage of 3D printers for gas jet manufacturing.The paper i...

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“…The techniques of interferometry, Schlieren imaging, and shadowgraphy provide the integrated (along the propagation axis) refractive index, and its first and second derivatives [20], respectively. In the case of a cylindrically symmetric jet, integrated information along one axis is sufficient to reconstruct the 3D density profile using inversion techniques such as the Abel transform [21][22][23][24][25][26]. However, when flows are not cylindrically symmetric, reconstruction of the gas flow pattern requires the use of more complex tomographic methods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tomographic imaging of nonsymmetric multicomponent tailored supersonic flows from structured gas nozzles

et al. 2015

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, "Tomographic imaging of nonsymmetric multicomponent tailored supersonic flows from structured gas nozzles" (2015). We report experimental results on the production and characterization of asymmetric and composite supersonic gas flows, created by merging independently controllable flows from multiple nozzles. We demonstrate that the spatial profiles are adjustable over a large range of parameters, including gas density, density gradient, and atomic composition. The profiles were precisely characterized using three-dimensional tomography. The creation and measurement of complex gas flows is relevant to numerous applications, ranging from laser-produced plasmas to rocket thrusters.

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Development and characterization of very dense submillimetric gas jets for laser-plasma interaction

Cited by 87 publications

References 29 publications

Optical shaping of gas targets for laser–plasma ion sources

Optical shaping of gas targets for laser–plasma ion sources

3D printing of gas jet nozzles for laser-plasma accelerators

Tomographic imaging of nonsymmetric multicomponent tailored supersonic flows from structured gas nozzles

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