High Energy Density Plasmas in Ultrafast Micro-Capillary Discharges

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Important plasma applications depend on the ability to generate hot and dense plasma columns of high homogeneity. This project studies the efficient generation of extremely hot and dense uniform plasma columns consisting in the rapid excitation of micro-capillary channels with ultrafast ( 3 ns risetime) current pulses with current densities exceeding 0.5 Giga-Amperes cm-2. Model simulations suggest this new concept has the potential to heat dense homogenous plasma columns to very high electron temperatures (500-1000 eV) using only modest currents. Experiments and simulations will be combined to elucidate the fundamental aspects of the dynamics of these high power density micro-capillary plasmas and optimize their generation for applications. The understanding of the physics of these discharges and their scaling laws can potentially impact the way in which hot dense plasmas are generated for numerous applications. These include the development of compact X-ray lasers, very highly ionized plasma waveguides for high intensity laser-plasma interactions, the generation of high harmonic from ions, and other high density plasma applications. The research and educational activities are designed to have a broad impact in the training of students and young scientists in different stages of their career, ranging from high school to post-doctoral fellows. Significant efforts will be conducted to attract a diverse group of students into science and engineering by continuing our research collaboration with minority serving Colleges and the Colorado AGEP program. The participating graduate and undergraduate students will be involved in an experimental and theoretical effort that will include aspects of discharge physics, advanced discharge technology, spectroscopy and advanced modeling of plasmas. The broader impact will be enhanced by the participation of high school students, and middle school and high school teachers during the summer.