Wavefront-sensor-based electron density measurements for laser-plasma accelerators

Journal Article · Sat Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3360889· OSTI ID:986199

Plateau, Guillaume; Matlis, Nicholas; Geddes, Cameron; Gonsalves, Anthony; Shiraishi, Satomi; Lin, Chen; van Mourik, Reinier; Leemans, Wim

Characterization of the electron density in laser produced plasmas is presented using direct wavefront analysis of a probe laser beam. The performance of a laser-driven plasma-wakefield accelerator depends on the plasma wavelength, hence on the electron density. Density measurements using a conventional folded-wave interferometer and using a commercial wavefront sensor are compared for different regimes of the laser-plasma accelerator. It is shown that direct wavefront measurements agree with interferometric measurements and, because of the robustness of the compact commercial device, have greater phase sensitivity, straightforward analysis, improving shot-to-shot plasma-density diagnostics.

• 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: 986199
• Report Number(s): LBNL-3781E; TRN: US1006301
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 81, Issue 3; ISSN 0034-6748
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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ACCELERATORS
ELECTRON DENSITY
INTERFEROMETERS
LASERS
PERFORMANCE
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
PROBES
SENSITIVITY
plasma density
wavefront sensor
laser-plasma accelerator