Tape-Drive Based Plasma Mirror
We present experimental results on a tape-drive based plasma mirror which could be used for a compact coupling of a laser beam into a staged laser driven electron accelerator. This novel kind of plasma mirror is suitable for high repetition rates and for high number of laser shots. In order to design a compact, staged laser plasma based accelerator or collider [1], the coupling of the laser beam into the different stages represents one of the key issues. To limit the spatial foot print and thus to realize a high overall acceleration gradient, a concept has to be found which realizes this in-coupling within a few centimeters (cf. Fig 1). The fluence of the laser pulse several centimeters away from the acceleration stage (focus) exceeds the damage threshold of any available mirror coating. Therefore, in reference [2] a plasma mirror was suggested for this purpose. We present experiments on a tape-drive based plasma mirror which could be used to reflect the focused laser beam into the acceleration stage. Plasma mirrors composed of antireflection coated glass substrates are usually used to improve the temporal laser contrast of laser pulses by several orders of magnitudes [3,4]. This is particularly important for laser interaction with solid matter, such as ion acceleration [5,6] and high harmonic generation on surfaces [7]. Therefore, the laser pulse is weekly focused onto a substrate. The main pulse generates a plasma and is reflected at the critical surface, whereas the low intensity pre-pulse (mainly the Amplified Spontaneous Emission pedestal) will be transmitted through the substrate before the mirror has been triggered. Several publications [3,4] demonstrate a conservation of the spatial beam quality and a reflectivity of about 70 %. The drawback of this technique is the limited repetition rate since for every shot a fresh surface has to be provided. In the past years several novel approaches for high repetition rate plasma mirrors have been developed [2, 8]. Nevertheless, for the staged accelerator scheme a second important requirement has to be considered. Since the electron beam has to propagate through the mirror, the thickness of the substrate has to be as thin as possible to reduce the distortion of the electron beam. A tape of only several micrometer thickness can overcome these disadvantages. It can be used with a sufficient repetition rate while it allows the electron beam to propagate through with a minimum of scattering.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Accelerator& Fusion Research Division
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 1045923
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-4919E; TRN: US1203692
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2010 Advanced Accelerator Concepts workshop, Annapolis, MD
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Tape-Drive Based Plasma Mirror
Control of Laser Plasma Based Accelerators up to 1 GeV