Spatial and temporal electron and ion density variations within the focal region of an intense laser beam in a tenuous plasma

The recent availability of focussed laser beams with flux densities well in excess of 10¹⁵ watts/cm² at 1.06 μm has led to experimental investigations of direct interaction between intense electromagnetic fields and charged particles. In this paper the relevant hydrodynamic two-fluid mode equations for a singly ionized tenuous plasma eveloped by an intense spatially varying electromagnetic field at the focus of a pulsed laser beam is solved by computer simulations for a cylindrically symmetric geometry. Radial, axial and temporal variations of electron and ion densities are given for different laser intensities and particle number densities. Fluctuations in electron density are found due to the bulk oscillation of electrons relative to what is essentially a static array of massive ions. The possibility of generating intense electromagnetic fields devoid of charged particles is discussed.     

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The generation and control of microwave electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma cathode electron beam is studied experimentally. A complete set of discharge, electron beam extraction, focusing and measuring system was set up. The characteristics and performance of microwave ECR plasmas as electron beam extraction source were studied by measuring the current of water cooling target and the beam spot size on the target. Experimental results indicated that both microwave input power and accelerating voltage are conducive to improving electron beam current. The influence of gas pressure on the electron beam current was complex. With the increase of gas pressure, the electron beam current is characterized by decreasing first and then increasing. The extracted electron current of microwave ECR plasma cathode can reach 75mA at gas pressure of 7×10⁻⁴Pa, and the energy of the electron beam can reach 9keV. The energy utilization can reach 0.6. By adjusting the current of the focusing coil, the diameter of electron beam spot is reduced from 20mm to 13mm and the electron beam current keeps the value unchanged.     

微波电子回旋共振等离子体阴极电子束的实验研究

介绍了实验室研制的微波电子回旋共振(ECR)等离子体阴极电子束系统及初步研究结果，该系统包括微波ECR 等离子体源、电子束引出极、聚焦线圈等。通过测量水冷靶电流和靶上的束斑尺寸，实验研究了微波ECR 等离子体阴极电子束的流强、聚束性能等随电子束系统工作条件的变化。结果表明：微波输入功率越高、引出电压越高，引出电子束流强越大；工作气压对电子束流强的影响较复杂，随气压增加呈现出先降低后升高的特点；在7×10⁻⁴Pa 的极低气压下电子束流强可达75mA，引出电压9kV；能量利用率可达0.6；调整聚焦线圈的驱动电流，电子束的束斑直径从20mm 减小到13mm，电子束流强未有明显变化。     

Characterization of the initial filamentation of a relativistic electron beam passing through a plasma

The linear instability that induces a relativistic electron beam passing through a plasma with return current to filament transversely is often related to some filamentation mode with the wave vector normal to the beam or confused with Weibel modes. We show that these modes may not be relevant in this matter and identify the most unstable mode on the two-stream or filamentation branch as the main trigger for filamentation. This sets both the characteristic transverse and longitudinal filamentation scales in the nonresistive initial stage.     

Energy lost by an electron beam in interaction with a plasma

Measurements of the electron beam distribution function after the beam has interacted with a plasma, indicate that a large fraction of the energy lost by the beam has been absorbed by the plasma. Only a small fraction is in the wave field.     

Electron excitation by a multi passage laser beam in a plasma

The limits put by optical guiding, and channel guiding mechanisms on the Laser Wakefield Acceleration (LWFA) technique are imposed on the Resonant Laser Wakefield Acceleration (RLWFA) scheme. Energy gained by the electrons in both schemes are calculated and compared. It has presented that in the RLWFA case, the electrons gain more and more energy after each traversal of the laser pulse and the electrons in a plasma gain about 3 GeV after 10 passages of the laser pulse. They gain 13 GeV when the laser light makes 50 passages and 26 GeV after the laser beam traverses the plasma 100 times. Moreover, the channel guiding mechanism is integrated to the RLWFA scheme and together with diffraction guiding a model for electron acceleration is proposed. Received 13 September 2000 and Received in final form 27 October 2000     

The action of an electron beam on dust structures in a plasma

The action of an electron beam on ordered dust structures in glow and low-pressure RF discharges was studied experimentally. The electron beam produces destruction and dynamic displacement of the dust structure. In the center of a dust structure, an electron beam with a low electron energy (tens of eV) at currents up to 1 mA caused structural disordering and “melting” in the region of its action but did not excite external crystal regions. Local action of an electron beam with a high electron energy (25 keV) and a beam current above 10 mA caused deformation of the whole dust structure and shifted it in the horizontal direction so that it was carried away from the RF discharge zone. The effect of dust structure displacements can be used to locally remove particles from a plasma.     

Anomalous scattering of a relativistic electron beam in a beam created plasma

Measurements of the velocity angular distribution of a relativistic electron beam (0.8 MV, 6 kA, 150 ns) after propagation through hydrogen gas are presented. At a pressure of 25 Pa scattering of the beam electrons into a preferential angular interval is observed. At 190 Pa anomalously large scattering is observed, up to an angular width of 90°, during about 30 ns.     

Structure formation and tearing of an MeV cylindrical electron beam in a laser-produced plasma

The stability of a cylindrical, solid hot electron beam propagating in a high density plasma has been studied using a two-dimensional, hybrid Darwin code. The initially solid beam evolves into a hollow, annular beam due to the Weibel instability and generates strong magnetic fields on both sides of the annular ring. The annular structure subsequently breaks up into several beamlets via a mechanism similar to a tearing instability. It is found that the magnetic fields parallel to the direction of beam propagation also grow due to the tearing process.     

Polarization of coherent synchrotron radiation from an electron beam rotating in a plasma

After eliminating reflections from the walls of the plasma container, we observed polarization of the coherent synchrotron radiation from a relativistic electron beam rotating in a plasma. Several features of the polarization agree well with calculations based on the single particle synchrotron radiation theory. A particular polarization ratio (Fig. 3) does not, however. We deduce from this direct diffraction of the radiation by the beam electrons. This is strong evidence for beam-particle bunches of size cm. Also, there must be some absorption of the extraordinary wave to account for the observations. We suggest a way to apply these results to measure the pitch angle of the beam.Work supported by Army Research Office.     

Design study of an improved laser wire system for electron beam measurement

The laser wire (LW) method has been demonstrated to be an effective non-interceptive technique for measuring transverse profile and emittance of electron beams in colliders, storage rings and dumping rings. In this paper, we present an improved design of high repetition LW system for high average power free electron lasers (HAP FELs) and energy recovery linacs (ERLs). This improved LW utilizes the excess power of the photocathode drive laser, thus making itself much cheaper and simpler. The system main parameters are optimized with numerical calculations and Monte Carlo simulations, indicating that resolutions would be better than 100 μm and scanning time less than 1 minute. Status of the experiment preparation is also presented.     

Theoretical investigation of an electron beam propagating through a wide gap cavity

This paper presents a self-consistent nonlinear theory of the current and energy modulations when an electron beam propagates through an inductively-loaded wide gap cavity. The integro-differential equations axe obtained to describe the modulation of the beam current and kinetic energy. A relativistic klystron amplifier （RKA） model is introduced, which uses an inductively-loaded wide gap cavity as an input cavity. And a numerical code is developed for the extended model based on the equations, from which some relations about the modulated current and modulated energy are numerically given.     

Nonlinear interaction of an electron beam with an active plasma medium

Khar'kov State University. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 33, No. 10, pp. 1116–1123, October, 1990.     

Asymmetric passage of current through a laser-produced plasma plume

The observation of the asymmetric passage of current in a plasma interrupter under certain conditions is reported. The effect can be attributed to different temperatures of the electrodes for the laser production of plasma in the interrupter. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 77–79 (March 1999)     

Calculation of the interaction force between a relativistic electron beam and an Ohmic plasma channel

A formula for calculating the interaction force between a relativistic electron beam and a preformed Ohmic plasma channel with an arbitrary offset of the channel axis from the beam axis is obtained in the case of complete charge neutralization. It is shown that this force is repulsive for radial profiles of the conductivity with a peak on the channel axis. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 67, 69–76 (June 1997)     

Electron energy distribution function in a collisional plasma heated by an electron beam

The electron energy distribution function for the non-resonant electrons in a collisional weakly ionized plasma is found, provided that the intensity of the Langmuir oscillation is spatially dependent. It is assumed that electron-electron collisions are responsible for energy loss.