Speaker
Mr
Lars Goldberg
(Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY)
Description
One of the key issues for the generation of stable and reproducible beams in plasma particle accelerators is control of the initial plasma density distribution. Not only the longitudinal but also the transverse density profile, the species distribution, as well as fragmentation and ionisation dynamics can have significant impact on the generated beams. In particular in increasingly complex scenarios, e.g. controlled electron injection and laser beam transport mechanisms, precise knowledge of these parameters is vital. Currently established methods such as interferometry or gas density diagnostics using scattering processes only allow for gas targets to be characterised at densities well above 10^17 cm-3 and lack versatility.
Here, electron density measurements based on stark broadening are presented. For a wide parameter range laser and discharge generated plasmas have been investigated regarding longitudinal and transverse electron density distributions, plasma lifetime, and electron temperature. In addition, an absolute density calibration has been performed for the parameter range investigated. This is necessary since literature values prove to be of insufficient accuracy in the transient situations in targets required for plasma acceleration.
Primary author
Mr
Lars Goldberg
(Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY)
Co-authors
Ms
Gabriele Tauscher
(DESY)
Dr
Jens Osterhoff
(Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY)
Dr
Lucas Schaper
(University Hamburg / DESY)
Mr
Martin Quast
(University of Hamburg / DESY)
