Aachen PK 2003 – scientific programme
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P: Plasmaphysik
P 4: Poster I
P 4.49: Poster
Monday, March 17, 2003, 17:45–19:15, Foyer
DISCHARGE PLASMA CHANNELS — •Elena-Simona Toma1, Pavel Antsiferov2, Konstantin Koshelev2, and Fred Bijkerk1 — 1FOM Institute for Plasma Physics, Edisonbaan 14, 3439 MN, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands — 2Institute of Spectroscopy RAS, Troitsk, Moscow Region, 142190, Russia
Low-current capillary discharges can be exploited to produce cylindrical plasma channels that can guide intense, TW laser beams over lengths of few to potentially tens of cm. These channels are thus a promising medium for laser-wakefield acceleration of electrons up to several hundred MeV. Refractive laser beam guiding is possible because the electron density profile of the channel exhibits a minimum on the axis, corresponding to a maximum for the refractive-index profile. However, the density profile in such a discharge has a limited gradient near the capillary axis. It has been theoretically shown that an externally applied axial magnetic field can increase the modulation of the radial electron density, thus improving the guiding properties of the plasma channel. In this poster we present the results of an experimental investigation on the effect of such axial magnetic fields on the electron-density profile.