Collisionless Damping of Laser Wakes in Plasma Channels
Excitation of accelerating modes in transversely inhomogeneous plasma channels is considered as an initial value problem. Discrete eigenmodes are supported by plasma channels with sharp density gradients. These eigenmodes are collisionlessly damped as the gradients are smoothed. Using collisionless Landau damping as the analogy, the existence and damping of these "quasi-modes" is studied by constructing and analytically continuing the causal Green's function of wake excitation into the lower half of the complex frequency plane. Electromagnetic nature of the plasma wakes in the channel makes their excitation nonlocal. This results in the algebraic decay of the fields with time due to phase-mixing of plasma oscillations with spatially-varying fequencies. Characteristic decay rate is given by the mixing time, which corresponds to the dephasing of two plasma fluid elements separated by the collisionless skin depth. For wide channels the exact expressions for the field evolution are derived. Implications for electron acceleration in plasma channels are discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH03073
- OSTI ID:
- 2964
- Report Number(s):
- Cfp-3933; ON: DE00002964
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Advanced Accelerator Concepts '98, Baltimore, MD, July 6-10, 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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