Characteristics of a Discharge-plasma Waveguide for High-energy Accelerators and X-ray Light Source Applications

Abstract

Compared with conventional accelerators using RF (radio-frequency) or microwave, laser-driven plasma wakefield accelerators can provide a much higher acceleration gradient of similar to 100 GeV/m. However, diffraction of the focused laser beam limits the acceleration distance and energy to less than a few mm and a. few hundred MeV, respectively. To overcome these limitations, We developed a discharge-plasma waveguide, in which the focused intense laser beam is guided over a long distance of a few CM due to the parabolic plasma density profile. In this paper, detailed experimental results with the developed plasma waveguide are reported.