3D printing of gas jet nozzles for laser-plasma accelerators

TL;DR

This paper explores the use of 3D printing techniques to create gas jet nozzles with tailored density profiles for improved laser-plasma acceleration, comparing different manufacturing methods and testing their performance experimentally.

Contribution

It introduces the application of additive manufacturing, specifically SLS and SLA, for producing gas jet nozzles with customizable profiles for laser wakefield acceleration.

Findings

3D printed nozzles enable tailored density profiles.

SLA and SLS produce high-quality nozzles for electron acceleration.

Experimental results demonstrate effective acceleration with 3D printed nozzles.

Abstract

Recent results on laser wakefield acceleration in tailored plasma channels have underlined the importance of controlling the density profile of the gas target. In particular it was reported that appropriate density tailoring can result in improved injection, acceleration and collimation of laser-accelerated electron beams. To achieve such profiles innovative target designs are required. For this purpose we have reviewed the usage of additive layer manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, in order to produce gas jet nozzles. Notably we have compared the performance of two industry standard techniques, namely selective laser sintering (SLS) and stereolithography (SLA). Furthermore we have used the common fused deposition modeling (FDM) to reproduce basic gas jet designs and used SLA and SLS for more sophisticated nozzle designs. The nozzles are characterized interferometrically and used for electron acceleration experiments with the Salle Jaune terawatt laser at Laboratoire d'Optique Appliqu\'ee.