Jena 2013 – scientific programme
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P: Fachverband Plasmaphysik
P 22: Niedertemperaturplasmen II
P 22.3: Talk
Friday, March 1, 2013, 10:30–10:45, HS 2
High density helicon plasma cell for plasma wakefield accelerators — •Birger Buttenschön1,2, Philipp Kempkes1,3, Olaf Grulke1, and Thomas Klinger1,3 — 1MPI for Plasma Physics, EURATOM Association, Wendelsteinstr. 1, 17491 Greifswald, Germany — 2MPI for Physics, Föhringer Ring 6, 80805 Munich, Germany — 3Institute for Physics, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Str. 6, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
The proton-driven plasma wakefield accelerator (PDPWA) is a promising concept for future electron accelerators with beam energies in the TeV range. Simulations show that a plasma density on the order of 1021 m−3 with high axial homogeneity over a length of a few hundred metres is necessary to reach the envisaged electron energies. In contrast to the commonly used laser plasma generation, a helicon (low-frequency whistler) wave heated plasma provides scalability to the required length without suffering from interaction of the relativistic proton beam with any electrode material. Furthermore, helicon waves have no intrinsic cut-off density, which makes them an ideal choice for creating plasmas with very high densities. In this contribution, we present a helicon plasma cell currently being developed as a prototype of a PDPWA plasma cell. First measurements characterizing the discharge structure – where the helicon wave field structure and the axial plasma density distribution are key parameters – are presented along with the general scaling behaviour of the plasma density with respect to applied rf power.