Modification and optical degradation of thin multilayers under VUV/UV radiation from compressed plasma flows

Coaxial plasma accelerators are under consideration for generation of compressed plasma flows which are suitable for emitting of powerful broadband radiation (including the VUV/UV ranges). The using of different gases in a chamber allows to control the spectrum. For inert gases the upper value of energy is limited by its first ionization potential (for neon ≈ 21.55 eV). For air the maximum energy is limited by ≈ 6 eV. Such technical systems are suitable for studying of optical properties stability for thin multilayers and the other coatings. Such tests were fulfilled for bilayers based on HfO2/SiO2 pair on silica substrates which is stable for laser radiation in the visible and IR ranges. It was found that a single exposure of the radiation (for neon and air) caused a relative decline of the radiation durability in ≈ 1.03…1.14 times. Spectral measuring demonstrated that the maximum decline of transmission (up to of ≈ 3…4%) was detected for exposures in neon in the range of 320…450 nm.

Effect of inductance on the parameters of the plasma focus in a pulsed coaxial accelerator

Based on the physical analysis of the processes occurring in pulsed plasma accelerators, the pos­sibility of their use for the creation and study of a plasma focus is justified. In particular, the influence of inductance on the parameters of the plasma focus in kilojoule­range «Plasma focus» (PF) installations created on the basis of a pulsed coaxial accelerator is studied. An equivalent installation scheme is proposed and justified, based on the analysis of which the influence of the inductance of the circuit and the capacitance of the capacitor bank on the value of the maximum current and neutron output is analyzed, without taking into account the parameters of the spark gap and the conducting wires. Based on the theoretical estimate of the inductance of the installation, its most probable value is calculated. . It turned out that in the installations of the considered energy range, the inductance is approximately 7.5•10­7 Gn and depends on the capacitance of the capacitor bank. On the contrary, in installations with megajoule energy, the inductance does not depend on the number and capacity of capacitors, so that an increase in the latter does not affect the increase in current strength. Experimental and theoretical dependences of the discharge current on the applied voltage at different capacitances of the capacitor bank are obtained. A comparative analysis of theoretical and experimental current waveforms is pre­sented. The greatest coincidence of theoretical and experimental results was found for the duration of the discharge pulse T = 30 microseconds.

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF PLATEAU FORMATION BY AN ELECTRON BUNCH ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF AN ACCELERATING WAKEFIELD IN A PLASMA

Over the past decade the production of multi-gigaelectrons from laser-driven and electron-bunch-driven plasma accelerators has been successfully demonstrated. However, applications require improvements of accelerated bunch size and its energy spread. One promising candidate to satisfy these requirements is to externally inject an electron bunch into an electron-bunch-driven plasma accelerator. We present studies on the optimization of the self-consistent distribution of an accelerating wakefield of plateau type, which can lead to improvement of final quality of the externally injected and accelerated electron bunch, using simulations with the particle-in-cell code LCODE. We quantified the effect of the injected bunch density on the plateau formation in the blowout regime.