Meter-Scale, Conditioned Hydrodynamic Optical-Field-Ionized Plasma Channels

Abstract

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 $n_{e0}\approx 1\times 10^{17}\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-3}$, and a matched spot size of $26\mu \mathrm{m}$. The power attenuation length of these CHOFI channels is $L_{\mathrm{att}}=(21\pm 3)\mathrm{m}$, 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.

12 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (8)

• Developments in laser-driven plasma accelerators
• A spectral, quasi-cylindrical and dispersion-free Particle-In-Cell algorithm
• Hydrodynamic, Optically-Field-Ionized (HOFI) Plasma Channels
• Optical guiding in meter-scale plasma waveguides
• Low-Density Hydrodynamic Optical-Field-Ionized Plasma Channels Generated With An Axicon Lens
• Laser-heater assisted plasma channel formation in capillary discharge waveguides
• Control of focusing forces and emittances in plasma-based accelerators using near-hollow plasma channels
• Guiding of high-intensity laser pulses in 100mm-long hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized plasma channels

Cited by in corpus (17)

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• Benchmarking of hydrodynamic plasma waveguides for multi-GeV laser-driven electron acceleration
• Measurement of directional muon beams generated at the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator
• Stability of the Modulator in a Plasma-Modulated Plasma Accelerator
• Plasma lens for focusing attosecond pulses
• Longitudinal tapering in meter-scale gas jets for increased efficiency of laser plasma accelerators
• Resonant excitation of plasma waves in a plasma channel
• Measurement of the decay of laser-driven linear plasma wakefields
• Parametric co-linear axion photon instability
• Long range propagation of ultrafast, ionizing laser pulses in a resonant nonlinear medium
• Scaling Laws in Plasma Channels for Laser Wakefield Accelerators
• Experimental Demonstration of Dephasing Reduction in an Optically Guided Laser-Plasma Accelerator
• Quasi-monoenergetic multi-GeV electron acceleration in a plasma waveguide
• GeV-scale accelerators driven by plasma-modulated pulses from kilohertz lasers