Demonstration of kilohertz operation of Hydrodynamic Optical-Field-Ionized Plasma Channels

TL;DR

This paper experimentally demonstrates that hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized plasma channels can be generated at kilohertz repetition rates with consistent properties over hours, supporting their use in high-repetition-rate plasma accelerators.

Contribution

It provides the first evidence that HOFI plasma channels can operate reliably at kHz rates over extended periods, maintaining stable optical properties.

Findings

HOFI channels generated at 1 ms apart are nearly identical.

Channels can be produced at 0.4 kHz for over 6 hours without degradation.

Key optical parameters exhibit minimal fluctuations during continuous operation.

Abstract

We demonstrate experimentally that hydrodynamic optical-field-ionized (HOFI) plasma channels can be generated at kHz-scale pulse repetition rates, in a static gas cell and for an extended period. Using a pump-probe arrangement, we show via transverse interferometry that the properties of two HOFI channels generated \SI{1}{ms} apart are essentially the same. We demonstrate that HOFI channels can be generated at a mean repetition rate of \SI{0.4}{kHz} for a period of 6.5 hours without degradation of the channel properties, and we determine the fluctuations in the key optical parameters of the channels in this period. Our results suggest that HOFI and conditioned HOFI channels are well suited for future high-repetition rate, multi-GeV plasma accelerator stages.