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The results of cross polarized pump-probe experiments in preformed He plasma waveguides are reported. Pump and probe have same wavelength and duration of 800nm and 80fs respectively. Peak pump intensity is I[subscript guided] = 0.2X10¹⁸W/cm² ~1000 I[subscript probe]. Single shot probe spectra and mode profiles at the channel exit are discriminated from the pump with a polarization analyzer and captured at various relative time delays [Delta]t. Frequency-domain interference (FDI) between the probe and a weak depolarized component of the pump is observed for [scientific equation]. Although the depolarized component is nearly undetectable through measurement of pump leakage alone, FDI sensitively reveals its substantially non-Gaussian structure. The possible depolarization mechanisms are analyzed. When probe is positioned at the leading edge of the pump, [scientific equation], its spectrum suffers a blue shift not measurable in the transmitted pump itself. The evidence suggests the channel interior is fully ionized and the partially formed channel ends are the origin of both depolarization and blue shift. A robust, pulsed, differentially-pumped plasma channel generation cell for high intensity guiding experiments has been developed. The design includes an axicon lens, windows for transverse interferometry, and permits injection of one or two different gases (main gas plus high Z seed gas) with several millisecond injection times and simultaneous 0.1ms pressure sensing resolution. Very well formed plasma waveguides have been formed in helium as well as hydrogen, at repeatable and well controlled pressures up to 1000Torr, with very uniform interior density, rapid density drop at boundaries, and very low exterior density. The possible danger associated with the use of large amounts of hydrogen was considered and a complex safety system was designed, constructed and used. Extensive analysis of channel profile reconstruction through transverse interferometry was performed. This includes an intuitive, efficient reformulation and extension of the Phase Locked Loop (PLL) carrier fringe demodulation method. It is also demonstrated and explained how and under which conditions artificial fringe frequency multiplication can reduce demodulation distortions in both PLL and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) methods. / text

by Ng Chi Shing. / Chinese title in romanization: Shao sheng bo zai deng li zi ti guan dao nei di fei fa san zhuan bo. / Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Bibliography: leaf 70.

This thesis describes a detailed investigation into the process of laser-wakefield acceleration (LWFA) for the generation of high-energy electron beams using the hydrogen-filled capillary discharge waveguide. In only the second experiment to be performed using the newly commissioned Astra-Gemini laser at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, electron beams were accelerated to energies greater than 0.5 GeV by laser pulses of energy 2.5J and peak power of 30T\~T. The injec- tion and acceleration of electron beams was seen to depend on the state of the plasma channel for axial electron densities less than 2.5 x 1018 cm -3. With the aid of simulations performed using the code WAKE it was found that the plasma channel allows the laser pulse to maintain its self-focussed spot size along the length of the capillary even below the critical power for self-guiding. It was found that the threshold laser energy required for the production of elec- tron beams was reduced by the use of an aperture placed early in the laser system. This was attributed to the increased energy contained in the central part of the focal spot of the laser. A short paper on this work was published in Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators and Beams and a longer paper was published in the New Journal of Physics. Transverse interferometry was used to measure the electron density of the plasma channel used in the Astra-Gemini experiments. An imaging system was devised which used cylindrical optics to increase the field of view of the capillary longitudinally, whilst maintaining the trans- verse resolution. The measured properties were consistent with previous measurements made by Gonsalves et al. [J]. The observed longitudinal variations in the plasma channel parameters were not found to be significant enough to affect the injection process.

This thesis documents the development of plasma waveguides for high-intensity laser pulses. Initial work concentrated on the development of the discharge-ablated capillary waveguide, based on the work of A. Zigler (Zigler, A., Y. Ehrlich, C. Cohen, J. Krall and P. Sprangle, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 13, 68). The waveguide was shown to be capable of guiding picosecond laser pulses with an intensity of 10¹⁶ W cm^-2 over a length of 10 mm. The pulse energy transmission of the capillary was increased from 48% to 70% when the discharge was fired. An interferometry-based measurement technique was developed, allowing measurement of the electron density profile formed in the capillary waveguide. These measurements were used as input to a numerical simulation that predicted the propagation of intense laser pulses through partially-ionised plasma waveguides. Numerical simulations accurately reproduced the picosecond pulse guiding results, and gave important insights into the properties and severe drawbacks of partially-ionised waveguides. Previous work on partially-ionised plasma waveguides has not fully explored the implications of the propagation of intense pulses through the partially-ionised plasma. For polypropylene waveguides, it was shown that for pulses with an intensity of 10¹⁶ W cm^-2, the waveguide is not capable of high-quality guiding. However, for pulses with an intensity of greater than 10¹⁷ W cm^-2, high-quality guiding is predicted through the partially-ionised waveguide in a new regime called "quasi-matched guiding". A novel gas-filled capillary discharge waveguide was designed and built. The device was shown to form a guiding channel inside a capillary pre-filled with gas. Interferometry measurements of the electron density profile formed in a hydrogen-filled capillary discharge waveguide showed that an approximately parabolic plasma waveguide could be formed in an essentially fully-ionised hydrogen plasma. The device was used to guide femtosecond laser pulses, with an intensity of 10¹⁷ W cm^-2, over distances of 20 and 40 mm, with a pulse energy transmission of 92% and 82% respectively. For the 20 mm-long waveguide, the peak intensity in the output plane of the waveguide was 70% of that at the waveguide input. These results indicate the lowest coupling and insertion losses of any waveguide published to date. The gas-filled capillary discharge waveguide is shown to be capable and versatile, and is suited for use as a tool in other applications. The use of the waveguide in the fields of XUV lasers and laser wakefield acceleration is discussed.

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