A Novel Wakefield Gas Jet

There are numerous fields in which fast pulses of supersonic gas jets are useful. One such application is for the laser wakefield acceleration of electrons. Currently, valves with opening times on the order of hundreds of microseconds and closing times that are even longer are used to supply the gas or small capillaries that are used to control the gas density. This project will develop technology to achieve faster opening and closing puffs of gas for the laser interaction, which would reduce the load on the vacuum system and enable higher repitition-rate operation of the accelerator. Phase I involved the demonstration of a gas valve that opened in less than 100µs and closed in less than 500µs, while operating reliably at up to 2Hz repitition rates without cooling. Valve operation was confirmed at three separate facilities. Phase II, will increase the repetition rate of the valve and further reduce the opening and closing times. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: Beyond the application to wakefield acceleration, further reductions in the opening and closing times of valves should benefit applications related to traumatic brain injury, Raman amplifiers, and proton accelerators