High-field plasma acceleration in a high-ionization-potential gas
نویسندگان
چکیده
Plasma accelerators driven by particle beams are a very promising future accelerator technology as they can sustain high accelerating fields over long distances with high energy efficiency. They rely on the excitation of a plasma wave in the wake of a drive beam. To generate the plasma, a neutral gas can be field-ionized by the head of the drive beam, in which case the distance of acceleration and energy gain can be strongly limited by head erosion. Here we overcome this limit and demonstrate that electrons in the tail of a drive beam can be accelerated by up to 27 GeV in a high-ionization-potential gas (argon), boosting their initial 20.35 GeV energy by 130%. Particle-in-cell simulations show that the argon plasma is sustaining very high electric fields, of ∼150 GV m(-1), over ∼20 cm. The results open new possibilities for the design of particle beam drivers and plasma sources.
منابع مشابه
Ultracold electron bunch generation via plasma photocathode emission and acceleration in a beam-driven plasma blowout.
Beam-driven plasma wakefield acceleration using low-ionization-threshold gas such as Li is combined with laser-controlled electron injection via ionization of high-ionization-threshold gas such as He. The He electrons are released with low transverse momentum in the focus of the copropagating, nonrelativistic-intensity laser pulse directly inside the accelerating or focusing phase of the Li blo...
متن کاملEffects of Plasma Discharge Parameters on the Nano-Particles Formation in the PECVD Reactor
In this paper, the effects of plasma discharge parameters on the nano particles formation process in a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) reactor using a model based on equations of ionization kinetics for different active species are studied. A radio frequency applied electric field causes ionization inside the reactor and consequently different reaction schemically active speci...
متن کاملLaser ionization and radio frequency sustainment of high-pressure seeded plasmas
The feasibility of using a photoionized, low-ionization potential organic seed gas to initiate a high pressure plasma discharge is examined and compared to radio frequency breakdown of high pressure argon alone. The seed gas, tetrakis~dimethylamino!ethylene, which has an ionization potential of 6.1 eV is ionized by an ultraviolet laser through 6.4 eV photon absorption, and forms a plasma column...
متن کاملStudy of laser ablation using nano-second laser pulses
In this paper, the laser ablation process based on the irradiation of nanosecond pulsed lasers on a copper target surface in the presence of Helium gas is studied. The dynamical behaviors of the generated plasma in the helium gas and evaporated copper at the atmospheric pressure are examined using a laser pulse, laser wavelength of and intensity of 7×1010W/cm2. A one-dimensional thermal model ...
متن کاملTheory of Gas Ionization by Intense Electromagnetic Fields
The distribution function of the electrons produced in the interaction between an intense electromagnetic wave and a neutral gas is derived and is shown to be nonequilibrium and anisotropic. By assuming that the time scale of gas ionization is much greater than the field period, it is shown that the electron distribution function formed in microwave and optical discharges has sharp anisotropy a...
متن کامل