Electron-plasma Interaction Chamber

Located on beam line #2, the “Plasma chamber” has 80 liters of usable volume. It is mounted on an adjustable platform and optical table, and has close proximity to a quadrupole triplet upstream and 20-degree dipole spectrometer system downstream. Hosted experiments include AE31 Plasma Wakefield Acceleration (PWFA), AE50 Quasi-Nonlinear PWFA, AE39 Dielectric Wakefield Acceleration (DWFA), AE43 PWFA Holography, and AE49 Coherent Terahertz (THz) Radiation.

Primary operational features include:

• Easily removable lid with multiple flanges for windows & electrical feed through(s), large internal area with breadboard for mounting a variety of interaction targets and beam diagnostics, accommodates 5-axis plasma capillary discharge assembly (large flange).
• Beam profile monitors at interaction region as well as chamber entrance and exit.

• Dedicated 500 l/s turbo pump and one auxiliary 200 l/s turbo pump port. Normally operates in the 10^-8 Torr range, but allows for rapid one hour turn-around time (achieves 10^-6 Torr range) when used with thin film pellicle inserted upstream.
• Discharge assembly mounted on 10” Conflat flange with multiple feed through(s) for high voltage, gas input and fiber optics.
• Electron beam input flange can accommodate multi-axis motorized drivers connected to miniaturized electron beam focusing magnets within the chamber.

The setup has the following main features:

• Insulated Macor capillaries, 1 mm diameter, implanted fiber optics for plasma diagnostic.
• Remotely triggerable 15 kVDC discharge and gas burst, synchronized to the electron beam.
• A variety of gases, including hydrogen and helium.
• Remotely controllable 5-axis mounts, with fiber optic diagnostic feed through(s).